


Winning Hearts and Minds

by AsheBlender



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Blood and Violence, Canonical Character Death, F/F, Female Persona 5 Protagonist, Friendship/Love, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Let Sakamoto Ryuji Say Fuck, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:20:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 33,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29983458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsheBlender/pseuds/AsheBlender
Summary: Sakura Kurusu had thought she'd had everything going for her, until the fateful day she lost her future.The thing is, it takes a person at rock bottom to find what they were looking for all along.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Niijima Makoto, Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto, Niijima Makoto/Persona 5 Protagonist, Suzui Shiho/Takamaki Ann
Comments: 22
Kudos: 38





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I've been reading a lot of Persona 5 stories starring a female protagonist. And, I've loved all the various interpretations of what she'd be like. So, I wanted to give it a try, myself! I'm kinda writing this as I'm re-playing the game on new game+. So, Makoto romance will be what this story has, as that's what I'll be going for in the game. Also, because I love Makoto.
> 
> It's probably treading familiar ground, but hopefully I manage to give it a good spin!

The room is dark and sinister. The previous sounds of grunting and fists meeting solidly against flesh have given way to near silence. The only other sound filling the room is a wheezing, haggard breathing.

A girl is currently handcuffed to a chair, head slumped as the rattle of syringes roll along the floor. If the beating she’d just received hadn’t made her head fuzzy and slow, then the drugs they’d injected surely finished the job. But, even so, they hadn’t been able to get anything useful out of her. The leader of the Phantom Thieves, right in their midst. Handcuffed in their interrogation room. And, they couldn’t get anything but glares and defiance from her. The lead investigator didn’t seem to understand how she was still resisting. They’d beaten the shit out of her. Then again, he supposes she’d have to be pretty tough in order to lead that band of criminals. At the moment, they couldn’t get a thing out of her from the more plausible reason that she’d passed out.

She was a pretty thing when she was brought in. Taller than most girls her age (maybe even some guys) and fit enough to put up a struggle when they came at her with the needle. She’s dressed in a standard Shujin Academy uniform, though it’s looking about as rough and torn-up as it’s wearer. She had a mop of shoulder length, partially black hair that hung messily over her face, curls going in every which way. There are dyed, blonde highlights going through her hair that seem to make all the individual curls stand out, particularly on the ends. It’d probably looked a lot more vibrant when out in the open air and not in the dingy, muggy light of the interrogation room. When she’d come in, her eyes had been a vibrant blue. But, they’d begun to lose their luster as the unforgiving questioning had continued. Now, she had the works. Black eye. Bruises littered across her face. Split lip. That last dose had made the dulled orbs roll up into her head. He’d admit that he’d enjoyed seeing it just a little, after watching her glare at him for so long.

“Hard to believe the leader of the Phantom Thieves is just some brat. Fuckin’ waste of my time.” He says dismissively, his step sending a vial skittering across the floor. He gives another glance at the girl in annoyance. Moreso at his failure to get anything about her accomplices out. They know she couldn’t have worked alone. There _had_ to be others out there. The idea that there weren’t was completely impossible. He sighs in frustration and motions to another one of the interrogators. “Looks like that last dose was too strong. Wake her up.”

The other man steps forward with a bucket of cold water and splashes it right in the girl’s face.

* * *

She awakes with a start, spluttering and coughing as ice cold water runs down her face. The bruises on her face throb in pain and her eyes refuse to focus on anything in particular. She feels like her head was run over by a truck. Or, maybe the more accurate description would be that the wheel of the truck was settling right on her skull. Just keeping more and more pressure on her brain until it felt like it was going to pop out of her ears. She gasps for breath, thoughts confused and fractured as she looks around. It doesn’t help that, without her glasses, she can’t see all that far away.

“No dozing off.” A man says as he steps forward, looking impassively down at her. He has a look like the kind of bastard who wouldn’t care if she died here. She vaguely recalls him watching quietly as they’d rolled up her sleeve and injected her. Her mind is still too foggy to recall much else. She definitely doesn’t want that again. She feels like she might lose her mind completely if they injected any more of that shit into her. The girl struggles against her cuffs desperately, glaring at him with a scowl deep in her lips. Defiant. Angry. The man doesn’t look pleased. “Still resisting...You still don’t get it, do you?”

“Give it up!” His voice roars across the small room as his foot comes up, smashing into her chair and sending her crashing to the ground with a pained grunt. She doesn’t get long to catch her breath. His shoes thump towards her, one raising up to grind it’s heel into her face. She winces as the movement draws fire across the bruises on her face, hissing in pain and squirming on the floor. He drawls on, the previous anger from before becoming something a bit more composed. No less sinister. “No use fighting anymore, girl. Just cooperate. Or, are you wanting another shot? Is that it? Plenty more where that last one came from.”

The question comes with his foot pushing down harder into her cheek. She grunts and struggles at the demeaning assault, her eyes naturally drifting to the one source of light in the room. There’s a camera in the corner, watching everything happen with a glowing, red eye. She isn’t kidding herself. She knows that it won’t possibly help her now. If anything, this is just to incriminate her further. If she ever confessed, they’d hang her with this footage. Naturally, they would skirt around the state she’s in. Blame it on her being ‘difficult’ to take in. Lose the footage of her beating in a computer somewhere.

He seems to think she’s hoping the opposite. As, when he follows her gaze to it, he lets out a low, amused chuckle.

“Yeah? Looking at that camera, huh?” He asks, reaching his hand down to grab a fistful of her hair. He yanks it up painfully and forces her to look into his eyes. Her own twitch as the flesh the roots of her hair are attached to scream in protest. Not able to properly right herself in her current position, she’s left with little choice but to have him direct her head where he wants it. “You thinkin’ it can be used as video evidence? That it might help you in any way?”

She stays silent, glaring up at him with her teeth bared. Blood trickles down her lips, smearing stickily on her teeth. She has nothing to say to him.

“I guess you still haven’t figured it out, then.” He says with a sigh, standing back up to his feet after shoving her head roughly back to the ground. “There are no laws here to protect criminals like _you_!”

To punctuate his statement, he lands a hard kick right to her stomach with the very tip of his shoe. Agony sparks through her whole body and she doubles over. Her vision blurs again. The blonde gurgles in pain and spits blood onto the floor, gasping and coughing for air as the wind is fully knocked out of her. The kick was so hard that she’s sure, if she had anything left in her stomach, it would have come right out onto the floor. With an empty stomach, all she manages are a few raspy dry heaves. Her labored breathing continues as he strolls casually off, taking a clipboard from his colleague like he was having a stroll through a particularly nice park.

“Let’s see here… Obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation, possession of weapons...” He rattles off as he reads over the papers. His face turns considering as he turns back around to face her. He smirks a bit, looking very pleased to be reading these charges off to her. “Ohh. Manslaughter, too, huh? Miss big shot, here. Talk about the works. To think all these crimes were perpetrated by some little punk like you. It’s almost hilarious... And, you were enjoying every moment of it, weren’t you? Thrill of a lifetime, right?”

She wheezes quietly, shutting her eyes. She was… enjoying it? Was she really enjoying it? She couldn’t remember. The fog of the drugs and more recent pain are making her head so foggy that she can’t remember much. Nothing comes to mind. As she’s trying to recall, the man says something else that she can’t really bring herself to focus on.

One of the other men come around to uncuff her, giving the weakened girl a shove back onto the ground when he finishes. The main investigator, still reading silently off the papers, steps up close to her as she rubs gingerly at her wrists. As expected, there’s raw, red circles around the entirety of the pale skin. They’d cuffed her as tight as they could. Her comfort was not a concern of theirs. The man stoops down and shoves the clipboard into her face with a grunt. His eyes are cold and filled with warning. He clearly doesn’t want anymore defiance from her. “Sign here. It’s a confession under your name.”

It’s a shame, then, that she isn’t going to give him anything easily. She may barely be coherent. May not be able to bring her memories to the forefront of her thoughts. But, she does know that she doesn’t let people push her around. So, when he leans his head in, she spits a mix of blood and the last dregs of her spit right in his stupid face. The result is a sticky, dirty mess splattered across his nose and cheek. His expression momentarily shows a thunderous anger that makes her _immensely_ satisfied. Whatever his next reaction, they’ll both know that she got him to lose his temper twice in the span of minutes. She flashes him a bloody grin.

“I see..” He finally mutters, slowly taking a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiping his face off with it. His eyes are colder than ever, contrasting to the flush of anger on his face. He takes a slow, shaky breath. After wiping his face, he returns the handkerchief to his pocket. Then, he laughs. Low and harsh. “You know… I only need your hand.”

Suddenly, his foot is smashing her kneecap. She cries out loudly in pain, hands weakly scrabbling at the leg he’s standing on. But, there’s nothing she can do. She’s too weak to force him off no matter how hard she fights. He doesn’t let up, putting more of his weight onto it. She can feel the bone creaking in protest. He lets his foot off, only to give it another brutal stomp. She writhes on the floor, screaming as agony shoots through the entirety of her leg. He growls as he grinds his foot into her knee. “You’re _going_ to sign this. I don’t care if you have to lose a _fucking_ leg to do it.”

Finally, he lets his foot off. Her hands immediately go to her leg, curling in against her knee and fruitlessly rubbing at it. The clipboard is shoved in her face once more. The dotted line is ominously blank. Just waiting for her to confess that she was behind it all. She lets out a few shaky pants of breath as he hands her a silver pen. He keeps his distance to avoid getting spit on again, his voice coming out in another growl. “Don’t think you’re going to be getting out of here in one piece, girl. We are _going_ to make you understand. One must take responsibility for their actions.”

With that, he steps back and watches her intently. There’s no room for argument, now. Nothing that she can do now except go along with it. Her shaky hand slips to the clipboard to sign her name right across the dotted line.

_Sakura Kurusu._

* * *

They hadn’t managed to get much out of her after that. She’d confessed herself and only herself. They’d shoved her back into the chair and left the room for a break. She almost has to laugh at the irony of it. Yeah, because it’s so hard and strenuous to beat the shit out of a handcuffed girl and drug her to hell and back. You poor babies.

She scrapes her black-painted nails along the table. They have little flower designs in the center, but she has no idea where they came from. They’re cute. She can’t really focus on that now, though. Instead, she focuses on taking in as many long, wheezing breaths as long as she’s able. She has no idea when they’ll be back. She can only assume that things will continue in a similar vein to what came before. More beatings, more drugs, more violence. She doesn’t remember why, but she knows that she has to be strong. Has to endure for some reason. And, so she will. Until she can remember what that reason is, she’ll claw and scratch for survival.

Her eyes slowly drift up when she hears the door. She expects to see the spit man, ready for another round of ‘let’s rearrange your kneecaps’ with his foot. Instead, she sees a tall woman with silver hair walking in quietly. The woman seems surprised when she looks upon Sakura’s face. She’ll admit, herself, that she’s surprised when her name immediately comes to her mind. She’s not even sure how she knows her.

_Sae Niijima._

_Niijima…_

That name sends a warmth through her heart that she’s unable to find the place of. Unable to place a face to. It’s definitely not Sae. Even if she does seem to be a slightly more sympathetic face than spit man (and _definitely_ easier on the eyes). No, this seems to be closer to her. It pains her not to be able to remember why the name makes her feel almost… happy in this environment. She shakes it off and hopes that it’ll come to her eventually. She just tries to hold onto the feeling as long as she can. Try and find a light at the end of this cold, painful tunnel. She looks back up as Sae takes a seat, seeming to be ready to talk.

“...I didn’t expect it’d be you...” Sae murmurs, though doesn’t elaborate on exactly why that is. Instead, her face turns hard and professional. Guess the idea that pleasantries would be exchanged beforehand was a foolish notion to consider. She folds her hands atop the table. “You’ll be answering my questions, this time.”

As she’s saying this, her eyes drift to the floor. A syringe lies a few feet away. It’s completely drained of it’s contents. Her eyes flit back to Sakura’s arm and narrow at the obvious injection marks in her forearm. Then, right up to her face. Her eyes narrow further at the extent of the damage to it. Sakura has to imagine she’s quite a sight. Dazed, confused, beat to shit. Sae’s voice turns low, quiet, _scandalized_. “Those bastards...”

“Can you even hear me…? It seems like you’ve been through a lot.” The woman frowns, reddish-brown eyes meeting with dulled blue. The red in her eyes seems incredibly familiar. Where has she seen that before? Sae seems to take a moment to get her thoughts straight as she glances away. She mouths words to herself that Sakura couldn't hope to catch in her state. Then, those eyes are right on her again. “Almost anything can happen here. And, I can’t stop them. You do know that, right? What you just got was the least of it. They _will_ do more to you. They just need the time and the effort. That’s why I need you to be honest with me. I won’t have much time to speak with you.”

Sakura blinks blearily.

Undeterred, Sae leans forward a bit. Rests her weight on her elbow. Definite interrogation tactics. They may not be feet smashing her body or bastards tossing her to the floor, but they’re unmistakably so. “What was your objective? Why did you cause such a major incident? I knew it wasn’t a prank from the get-go. But, there was never any way to make a case for prosecution. That’s because the method behind these cases could never be determined.”

Sakura rests her head in one of her hands. It was a little easier than trying to hold it up on her own, but not by much. Her eyes meet Sae’s more directly. When it comes out, her voice is raspy and sore. It almost hurts to talk, but she pushes her words past her lips regardless. “...Why do you want to know?”

Sae presses her lips together. “This isn’t an issue of evidence in court. Simply? This is _my_ case. And, I have to know the answers for myself. I won’t rest until I do.”

“...of course.”

“Well, it seems that you’re of a more sound mind, now.” She continues, leaning forward all the more. Settling in like she’s ready to hear a long story. It’s a good thing she is. Sakura’s not sure even she, herself, would believe it if someone told it back to her. She slowly nods her head. “When and where did you find out about _that_ world? How is it even possible to steal another person’s heart? I need to you to tell me what you know.”

_Start from the very beginning._

* * *

The world seems to freeze around Sakura. Sae stops in place and stares at her with that determined expression. She doesn’t say anything, mouth forever open with the last words she said. The girl finds herself slowly blinking as the form of a sparkling, blue butterfly comes into appearance in front of her. Honestly, it could still be the drugs. But, she can almost feel the presence of the butterfly… calming her. A soft, feminine voice speaks through her mind, gentle and kind.

_You are held captive._

_A prisoner of fate to a future that has been sealed in advance._

_This is truly an unjust game. Your chances of winning are almost none._

She closes her eyes and sighs quietly, fatigue clawing at her mind. She may be coherent, but she’s so tired. She’s still hurt, still in so much pain. If the chances of winning are almost none… is there any point to continuing? How was one to win in a situation like this? The blonde shivers and opens her eyes back up when the voice speaks again. As if knowing that none of this is fair. That this will be a hard, brutal crawl to the finish. The voice keeps calm and soothing, encouraging her to sit up a little straighter.

_But, if my voice is reaching you… there may yet be a possibility open to you._

_I beg you. Please overcome this game and save the world._

_The key to victory lies within the memories of your bonds. The truth that you and your friends grasped._

Her eyes widen a bit, her mind struggling to catch up. Her… friends? Her bonds? She takes a quiet breath. Yes, that’s right… She has people she cares about. People that are more important to her than anything else. But, why can’t she remember them? She wants to bring their faces to her mind so badly, to put names to these shadowy figures she can only glimpse and vaguely recall. All she knows is that she misses them with an intensity that hurts more than her injuries. The butterfly drifts closer to her, drifting just in front of her nose.

_It all began that day. When the game was started half a year ago._

_For the sake of your world’s future, as well as your own… You must remember!_


	2. That Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a few chapters already done that I'll be posting over the next couple days. I only have one or two more left to write before I'm where I'm at in the game, I think. We'll see where it goes.
> 
> Thanks for the comments on the first chapter, as well. I might be too nervous to answer them a lot of the time, but they're still appreciated and make me smile to read. ^^

It had all seemed to happen in an instant.

Sakura Kurusu had decided to head out that evening to go pick something up from the store. A simple reason. Something anybody her age might have done after a day of school. She’d made a little money from her part-time job, so why wouldn’t she want to spend it, right? She figured she’d earned a little treat for working so hard, lately. Volleyball practice was ramping up in preparation for a new season to begin, so more was expected of all of them. Firm, but fair. Doing the best you could and working on the areas where you were weakest. It was exhausting, but ultimately she could feel the improvement with every practice in herself and her teammates. Back then, she had thought she’d felt some sort of kinship with them. A team bond, if you will. She was their lead and star player, always making sure to help everyone she could to do their best. She thought she’d been doing good.

Her life had been great. She thought she’d had it all going for her. Exceptional grades, on her way to a scholarship, sporty friends... Hell, she’d been whistling as she walked down the street, one hand shoved in her pocket and the other carrying her bag over her shoulder. She hadn’t gotten much. Just something to drink and a book that had grabbed her eye as she’d passed by. By all accounts, she was happy. Excited to crack open her book tonight, excited for the new season, just… content.

“Getting dark. Better head home before mom gets-” She’d started to mutter to herself as she adjusts her glasses (she preferred to only use contacts when she was playing volleyball). She glanced briefly at her phone with the intention of sending a message. Though, she’s cut off by the sounds of a struggle just ahead. Her head snaps up to the source of the sound and her eyes widen at what she finds.

A woman appeared to be struggling against a very drunk man. He, himself, barely seemed like he could keep himself upright. That’s likely why she hadn’t been carted off, yet. But, what he lacks in mobility, he seems to make up for in strength. He’s a lot bigger than this poor woman, who already seems to be in quite the state. She’s sobbing and struggling, her shirt already missing buttons and showing skin Sakura is confident wasn’t showing before. His words suggest he’s some sort of big shot and she should just ‘know her place'. It seemed very much like his intentions for her were of the most sinister kind. And, it made her hands curl into fists. Sure, this was a dangerous situation. They hadn’t seen her, so she could probably slink off and not be noticed. Just go home and forget it ever happened. Sink into her bed and just… read her book and sip her drink. But, what kind of person would she be if she just ignored this?

So, she made the decision that had ultimately come to ruin her life.

She hadn’t said a word as she dropped her bag and sprinted down the street. The guy, in his inebriated state, barely heard her coming until it was too late. Being a fit girl with a tall stature helped in that instance. She’d smashed into his side with her shoulder, sending him sprawling to the ground. But, she could hardly care less about what he was feeling, instead turning her gaze to the shaken woman with concern. She looked pretty rough, which had been understandable in her position. She had stooped down to meet her eyes, placing her hands gently to the woman’s shoulders. “Are you okay, ma’am?”

“I-I…” She stammered, tears running down her cheeks.

Sakura started to shuck off her jacket to help cover the woman (as she wouldn’t want to be out here exposed like this, either) when a groan from the ground drew her attention. The drunk guy from earlier had started stirring. The fall he took from her shove had seemed to be a bit of a nasty one. He’d appeared to have smacked his nose on the pavement. As, blood had started to quickly seep out of it and dribble down his lips and chin. She didn’t feel any particular sympathy for him. He was a big boy and he could just get over it. Instead, she’d stepped in front of the woman as she handed her jacket to her. The woman shakily accepted it, sniffling and whimpering. She glares at him. “Go home, guy. Leave the lady alone.”

She’d hoped that her height might help to intimidate the man. She doubted he wanted to pick a fight with more than one person. That’s how people like that were. They’d go after people who were alone. Numbers frightened them and made them awkward. But, of all the things she could have expected him to say, the next words out of his mouth were the absolute last to have anticipated.

“ _Damn brat! I’ll sue!_ ”

She hadn't believed that. How could he sue her for saving a woman he was about to assault? There was no jury in the world who would accept that, right? She’d told herself that as she heard nearby sirens. Told herself that there was no way they could possibly believe him when he said that she’d assaulted him with no provocation. It was even more unbelievable that the very woman she tried to help would shakily and tearfully affirm his story. She told herself this was just a nightmare when the police grabbed her and cuffed her hands behind her. They even seemed to _recognize_ him. She’d, obviously, loudly protested this and insisted that this man was the one who needed to be taken in. She’d received no pity, nothing at all. In fact, the man had just grinned sickly at her and the officers.

“Do you see that? She’s resisting arrest, officers. You ought to rough her up a little. Make sure she comes with you. Oh. And, make sure my name isn’t attached to any of this. I don’t really need any attention from this on me.”

That was when the officers of her town had more or less changed her view of law enforcement forever. They’d done just as he said. Pushed her hard to the hood of a squad car, voices raised and threatening more charges if she continued resisting. All while the man just smiled. When she’d looked pleadingly at the woman to help her by _telling the truth_ , she wouldn’t meet Sakura's eyes. No pity, no help, no mercy. That’s the way she’d been dragged to jail, wide-eyed and disbelieving. Scared out of her mind. She’d never been in trouble before. Never even visited a jail. That night, she found herself harshly beaten for ‘resisting arrest’ and roughly tossed into a cell. Left to rot in there for days without any word of what was happening.

A trial had sprung up incredibly fast, seeming to be sped through the process of actual investigation and right into sentencing. She’d been found guilty of assault with barely any defense from the lawyer she’d been given. Despite the fact she was just a teenager. Despite the fact that she was covered in bruises from the police. What was there she could do? Especially when the woman had testified against her in court. She still wouldn’t look at Sakura, head down as she quietly gave the words that would seal her fate. With the only witness being this woman, there was no way she could fight it. It hadn’t been a court case as much as it had been a public execution. Put on probation and struck with a black mark on her record for a crime she never committed.

Things swiftly ramped up after that. A series of events to stab right into her heart. She’d been booted from her team quickly, her track for a scholarship completely obliterated right in front of her. The short amount of time she’d returned to school to gather her things, as she’d been expelled from her school to boot, had been a disaster. Her former ‘teammates’ seemed to be glad she was cast out of the school, whispering things about finally being able to take the top spot. How they ‘always knew her goody-two shoes face was just an act’. They didn’t even ask her side of the story. Though, she doubts they would have believed it if she told them. It seemed like any and all she considered friends had turned their back on her. Either wanting what she’d had or because they didn’t want to associate with a criminal.

It had hurt terribly. She hadn’t smiled genuinely since the incident. How could she?

Her parents couldn’t afford to move locations. But, it was becoming increasingly clear she couldn’t stay here. Not only because there was no school in her area that wanted a felon actively on probation in their numbers, but because the rumors were already deeply saturated in the area. Anywhere she even _could_ go, they would follow her. She needed to go to an entirely different area. Different city, even.

Sakura didn’t have much to add to this. She had remained quiet most days. Locking herself away in her room while her parents tried to figure out what to do with her. It was no secret that it was a source of great stress from them. They would argue in hushed whispers they thought she couldn’t hear, trying and failing to find anywhere she could attend school. Wondering how she could ever come back from this. It seemed like she had no control of where her life was going, anymore. She kept it in. Kept in how unhappy she was with all this. She couldn’t do anything more.

It only felt more like this was true when they had finally found a school in Tokyo that was willing to give her a chance. With her parents unable to move, she would have to stay there alone for the next year as her probation wore out. What’s more, they had found someone to take her in! How exciting was that?

Apparently, a family friend had mentioned the trouble her parents were having to a guy they visited on the regular. Somehow, he’d expressed interest and her parents had swiftly gotten into contact with him. He’d… accepted to house her, for whatever reason. She couldn’t possibly hazard a guess as to what that reasoning was, but she supposes she couldn’t complain if she could actually go to school. For that, she was grateful. She couldn’t get back everything she had lost, but she could finish out her schooling in peace. And, it would be in a new city where rumors hadn’t reached. There was a… shiny lining around that. Maybe she’d actually be able to get some of her life back.

She hadn’t been able to pack too much on her person, as her parents didn’t want her to heft around a heavy bag all the way to Tokyo. She’d taken a single change of clothes and toiletries, a few books, some money, and her phone. That was about all she could fit. Anything else was either adding too much weight or just wouldn’t fit neatly in the bag. Her parents had promised to keep her room tidy while she was gone and send what they could forward for her. Her mother had thrown her arms around her before she left, tearfully making her promise to be good. That they loved her and hoped that things got better. Sakura hoped that, too.

After all… how could things possibly get any worse than this? It could only go up, right?

* * *

Sakura jolted lightly as the train jostled her from her morose thoughts. She glances up slowly as an automated voice informed her that they would be arriving in Shibuya soon. Her blue eyes glance around to the various people milling on the train, either seated or hanging on to the bars as the train continues to jostle and move. Honestly, from what she’s seen already, she’s pretty sure the number of people moving around Tokyo aren’t going to be a positive. Compared to her home town, there’s just… _so many more people_.

She sighs and looks down at her legs. She’d dressed in something a little bit casual, but still nice enough to make a good first impression. A simple blouse, a simple, dark skirt that reaches just below her knees, as well as black tights to cover up her legs. Her glasses, which had been recovered after she was arrested, sit neatly on her nose. Her long, jet-black, curly hair has somehow been wrangled up into a high ponytail. Usually, it falls all the way down to the small of her back in a series of messy, haphazard curls, but.. She really has no idea what kind of person her caretaker is going to be, so she’d decided to go for something simple and respectful. First impressions were everything, after all. She would rather it be a good one. She’s hopeful, though!

Sakura looks up when she hears two loud girls talking a little ways away from her. They seem to be wearing school uniforms. She has to wonder if they’re from the school she’ll be attending. Maybe they were talking about school or something. Not particularly meaning to eavesdrop, she still manages to hear what they’re excitedly discussing.

_What, are you for real? A mental shutdown?_

_It’s the truth!_

_To a person, though? Jeez, that’s gotta be a joke! You really love all that occult stuff, don’t you?_

She winces a bit and puts her eyes forward. Yeah, she didn’t really need to be thinking of anything occult going on here in Tokyo. Her situation is bad enough without hearing that some random asshole might just completely lose their mind near her. Whatever that means. She hates spooky shit. What could possibly be next for her to hear rumors about? Ghosts? Demons? The damned Kuchisake Onna? She shivers. Just the thing to start thinking up in a new city, Sakura. Just wonderful.

She doesn’t have to worry about hearing anymore of that conversation, however, as the train is soon coming to a stop. It seems like this is it. Time to go out into the big, bad city.

* * *

Okay, so, if she thought the train was bad… The city proper was even worse. There were all sorts of people walking around, enough that she’d nearly bumped into a couple of them just trying to cross the street. This is going to take some getting used to. Back in her home town, there was never this kind of foot traffic unless there was some sort of festival going on. And, even then, it was still probably less busy than this! She worries her lip between her teeth, looking down at her navigation app for the _umpteenth_ time. “Okay, so, if I’m here… Damn it.” She mumbles quietly, flicking her finger along the screen before looking up to try and gauge her surroundings.

Just seeing all the people walking in the streets fills her with dread. How do people _get_ anywhere like this? She has to, eventually, keep moving or be trampled.

At the sound of a sharp ‘beep’ from her phone, she glances down curiously. Her curiosity only increases as a strange icon seems to place itself over her map. It’s a deep red color, shaped like some sort of spooky, hairy eyeball or something. She cocks her head a little bit, wondering how it ended up there. Maybe it’s some sort of ad or something? She didn’t remember there being any ads the whole way here, though…

Before she can even finish that thought, the icon grows to take up her whole screen. It completely obscures her map, making her eyes widen in surprise. Annoyed, she leans in closer and tries to find the little ‘x’ that _has_ to be somewhere. All ads had to have a way to close them, right? Stupid navigation app, this has to be the worst ad placement ever! After tapping at the icon in frustration a few times, she groans. Great. Now, her phone was all messed up. Just what she needed.

When she finally sighs and raises her head from her phone, she notes that something is… different. Wrong. She looks around, noting that the sounds of the cars and chatting people have stopped completely. No… not just the sounds, the people themselves have all stopped dead in their tracks! She blinks a few times at the man on his phone right in front of her. She cocks her head in confusion before leaning in to wave her hand in front of his face. “Uh… guy? You okay, there?”

He doesn’t respond. Neither does anyone else.

“Is this a, uh...” She gulps quietly, stepping away from the frozen man and accidentally bumping into an equally frozen lady. “City thing? I’m a country girl, I don’t know what this… sudden… freezing is? Is this one of those flash mob things? I… I bet there’s just a _hilarious_ explanation to all this!”

With a laugh that’s more nerves than humor, she looks down the street. Her eyes widen as she sees that a spot in front of one of the buildings seems to be on fire. That should definitely be something that worries her. But, instead, it almost draws her toward it. The flames are the most brilliant blue she’s ever seen. They flicker and jump into the air with such a presence that they almost seem alive. She takes a few steps closer as the azure flames seem to swirl and take shape. It’s almost… shaped like a person. A tall, lean figure. She gasps quietly as large wings burst forth from it’s back. Even still, she’s not so much scared as she is transfixed by the presence. The light reflects off her glasses and glows over her skin.

Orange bursts suddenly into the blue flame. A vile smile and narrowed eyes take shape to grin sadistically at her. It almost seems familiar. In an instant, she sees herself staring back. The same grin is on Sakura’s face, her formerly blue eyes now a piercing gold. It’s almost like she’s staring right into her own soul. She takes a short step back-

And hears the beeping of cars. People talking. The hustle and bustle of the crowds. She blinks a few times in confusion. The fire is gone. And, so is her spooky doppelganger. It’s just regular, crowded Shibuya. A few people grumble at her to get moving as they pass by and she jolts to attention. “...the fuck was that? Stress must be getting to me more than I thought.” She mumbles as she starts walking again, chancing a look down at her phone.

That weird, eyeball thing is still there.

“Oh, hell no.” She grumbles, placing her finger to it. It goes right into the little bin icon to delete it. Apparently it was just some sort of weird app and not an ad. Go figure.

Either way, she is _not_ dealing with anymore of _that_ shit, today. She had no idea what that just was, but she’d be very glad to never have to experience it again. Besides, anymore of this nonsense and she’s going to be late. She can’t be late to her very first meeting with the guy who was nice enough to take her under his care for the year. That’s just bad manners all around.

Whatever. She has to find her caretaker’s place.


	3. A Warm Welcome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked the idea of making the protagonist a little too optimistic and hopeful at the beginning of the game. I love Sojiro a lot, but he really is an ass at the start.

Sakura made sure to delete that particular navigation app and download a new one just to be safe. It wasted a little more of her time to set it up and re-enter the address, but she eventually made it into the backstreets of a relatively quiet residential area. She liked it much better back here. It was quiet, peaceful… a hot lady in a lab coat just walked right by her… Yeah, this was better than the open streets of Shibuya by _far_. She could actually see herself maybe liking it here? Too early to really tell, but there’s always the hope. That’s just what she has to hang onto! Just stay positive! Try to make the best impressions you can in your new city! This place was cozy!

She’s looking for the home of Sojiro Sakura. Which… is a bit funny.

“Heyyy, Sakura-san. If we were related, I’d be… _Sakura Sakura_!” She says aloud, her voice trying to make an attempt at sounding charming. Before she just sighs and sags her shoulders. “Jeez, that’s awful. That’s the worst first impression you could ever give.”

She tries not to come up with anymore gems like that as she wanders the backstreets in search of Sojiro Sakura’s elusive home. The navigator had a little trouble with the twists and turns of the streets, but she eventually made it to a pretty nice little house. She smiles a little more. It seemed like a nice enough place to live. Kinda reminded her of her parent’s place a bit. Something simple, but comfortable. A nice place in a residential neighborhood? Maybe… she could work with this. Get her life back on track!

She presses on the doorbell, then waits with a patient smile.

No one comes out. There’s not even the sound of scuffling behind the door. She lightly clicks her shoes together and bites her lip.

Undeterred, she rings it again.

When the second ring still doesn’t result in anyone coming out, her eye twitches and she opens up her navigation app again. “This should be the place… It even says Sojiro Sakura on the name plate...” She mutters, glancing to her side when she hears another voice comment that nobody seems to be home. There’s a man to her side with what looks to be some sort of package. She vaguely recognizes the brand on the box to be some sort of high-end computer parts, but she’s unsure exactly why Sojiro might need those. She thought she remembered her parents saying he was an older guy.

Not that older guys couldn’t… have computers or something.

She listens in a little more closely, the deliveryman muttering to himself that Sojiro isn’t around during this time of day. Which… probably would have been good for her to know. Furthermore, he should be at a cafe called ‘Leblanc’ nearby. With an affirming nod, she sets off in the direction of the cafe the deliveryman had been mumbling about.

She finds the cafe easy enough. It’s a cute little place tucked into an alleyway with a faded, red awning over it. The dark letters reading ‘C _offee &Curry Leblanc_’ are equally faded. She supposes, as long as people could see it well enough… There’s a little menu next to the door that, unsurprisingly, offers coffee and curry. But, it’s all done up on a little chalkboard with careful, neat handwriting, so she just accepts that maybe the owner was acknowledging the fact that the awning was fading. She hesitates at the door for a moment. Sakura takes a careful breath and fixes her hair, making sure her clothes look neat and unwrinkled. She hefts her bag up onto her shoulder with a determined huff.

Okay, Sakura. Time to win over hearts and minds. You can do this.

The door jingles pleasantly as she steps inside. She’s pretty immediately hit with a scent combination of coffee and spices. You would think that would be something of a weird combination to have invading your nose, but it actually smells… wonderful. The spices seem to mix with the scent of the coffee without overpowering it. It, honestly, fits the atmosphere of the place perfectly. As the TV plays in the background and an elderly couple discuss it, she finds herself looking around the quaint little cafe with a smile. It doesn’t have very much in the way of space, but it makes up for it with a homey atmosphere. It just had a few booths and stools, a counter, and a small kitchen area smooshed way into the back. Honestly, it had to be the cutest cafe she’d ever seen. Her smile grows a bit.

She glances to the counter when she hears somebody mumbling. There’s a man sitting at one of the stools, concentrated on the newspaper in his hand. Deep in thought, the man gently strokes along a long goatee on his chin. He looks pretty well put together, otherwise. He’s dressed in salmon colored button-up and some khaki work pants, his black hair slicked back on his head. He adjusts his glasses down at the paper every now and again. He must work here, too, as he’s wearing an apron with Leblanc’s logo on it. “And, down is… the name of a shellfish used in pearl farming...”

He looks pretty invested. She doesn’t really want to interrupt him, but she’d rather see if he’s the guy she’s looking for or if she’ll have to look somewhere else. She gently clears her throat to draw his attention.

The man looks up at her with a raised eyebrow. Then, his eyelids lower slowly and he lets out a sigh. Like he’d rather not have been bothered at all. “Oh, right. They _did_ say that was today.” He says as he slowly gets to his feet. Just as he does so, however, the old couple gets to their feet as well. Not wanting to be rude, Sakura steps back and lets them talk.

The elderly couple speaks of ‘rampage accidents’ with the man, seemingly glad that ‘no car is going to come crashing through here’. It makes her think back to those two girls on the train ride into Shibuya. They were talking about something kind of similar, weren’t they? About people mentally shutting down and going crazy? She’s not sure she likes that these things are so widespread in their discussion. If both teenagers _and_ older people were talking about them, surely there had to be a kernel of truth somewhere. Sakura closes her eyes and shakes her head, not wanting to think about it anymore.

Either way, the couple leaves and the man seems… visibly relieved that they’re gone.

He glances up at her with that raised eyebrow of his. She’s a good bit taller than him, so he has to lift his head up to actually look her in the eyes. He looks her up and down a few times, a skeptical look in his eyes. Maybe a bit annoyed, too? She can’t tell. “So. You’re the girl, huh? You’re, uh… taller than I expected.”

She nods quickly and gives a respectful bow. “Yes, sir. I’m Sakura Kurusu. I’m looking for, ah… Sojiro Sakura. Just a… Sakura looking for a Sakura, haha...” She says with a bit of a nervous smile, fiddling with her skirt a bit.

If he has a reaction to the funny coincidence of their names, he doesn’t show it on his face. He doesn’t even really react to her last statement beyond looking at her with that vaguely annoyed expression he’s been wearing since she walked in. Instead, he just nods slowly and breathes through his nose. “...Yeah. I’m Sojiro Sakura. You’ll be in my custody for the next year.”

He scrutinizes her again, a little closer this time. He gives a glance to her glasses first, then to her neatly done up hair and outfit. It makes her feel a bit weird, having someone looking her over so critically. Was he expecting someone else or something? Why was he looking at her like that? “I was wondering what kind of unruly kid would come waltzing into my establishment, but… you’re the one, huh?”

She nods. He purses his lips together and looks at her a moment longer, then nods as well. The little ‘let’s just stare at each other awkwardly’ game seems to have ended. “Anyway. I assume you know the circumstances. A customer of mine knows your parents and, well… Eh. Not that it really matters. Come with me.” He says gruffly, turning around and moving to the back of the little cafe. There’s a little flight of stairs that lead up to a second floor.

She follows him up the stairs to come to a room that is just… a mess. She’s almost surprised a cafe would have a room like this anywhere. There’s a desk covered in old, ruined books sitting in the far corner, a clear tarp thrown lazily over it to keep them all from falling. The same can be said of a bookshelf on the opposite side. Books are just crammed in there with no rhyme or reason. Probably ruined. Mostly just seeming to have been shoved there to have a place to go. There’s an old sofa that looks like it’s definitely seen better days. The floor is thick with dust. There’s a shelf that seems to be mainly comprised of bags of various bits of junk. The opposite of that looks no better, all manner of junk and gas cans and potted plants and… _is that a fucking bicycle_? She gawks at the _actual bicycle_ for a moment before she slips her eyes to the center of the room. A mattress has been set up on some boxes and pushed against the wall. She’s a bit speechless. Why did he bring her up here?

“This… is your room.”

Her head spins around so quickly that he actually jumps a little. She stares at him, then out at the room, then back at him again. Then, she glances back toward stairwell. There’s not even a door… This is supposed to be her room? It doesn’t look like a place someone could live. It looks like a health and safety violation waiting to happen. It stands to reason, also, that if she’s living up here… she won’t be living in that cozy-looking little house back down the street. That hope that she had in her heart cracks just a little bit. This… isn’t what she was expecting.

Sojiro, apparently having recovered from her sudden motion, clears his throat. “You look like you want to say something.”

She casts another look around the dirty, dusty room. She was being thrown up into an attic like a nuisance. Like one of these pieces of junk. By the person who was supposed to be taking care of her this year. Hell, even by her parents. She knows they love her, but she can’t help feeling that her presence being absent had lifted a huge weight off their shoulders. A huge cause of stress and shame. She was in Tokyo and they weren’t. They could be home, while she… Sakura takes a small breath, trying for something resembling a smile. “It’s… big.” She says quietly, fiddling with her skirt again.

He watches her for a moment before rubbing the back of his neck. At least he has the decency to look a little sheepish about it. “Guess it’s not really a place a young girl should be sleeping, but… you’ll make due. Just needs a little cleaning up, that’s all.”

She just barely bites down the words ‘there’s literal garbage in here’. Only just. Her eyes twinge unhappily and her hands clench into her skirt a little tighter. Sojiro doesn’t seem to notice either, continuing on as he turns to look directly at her. “It’s up to you what you want to do with it. Doesn’t matter to me. I’ll be leaving after I lock up, each day, regardless.”

His eyes narrow at her. “You’ll be alone at night, but don’t even think about doing anything stupid. I’ll throw you right out in the street if you cause me any trouble.”

“...Yes, sir.”

He strokes his goatee for a moment as she tries to get a handle, again, on what her life is now. He looks considering before he speaks up again. “So... I got the gist of your situation from your parents. You protected some woman from a man forcing himself on her. He got injured and then sued you. You lost the case bad. Am I right?”

Sakura’s shoulders slowly sink down as she nods, smile slowly beginning to fade from her face. She tries her best to keep it on, but the rather blunt bringing up of her court case isn’t really something that she can keep hopeful during. “I-I… Yeah. Yeah, that’s… what happened.”

He shakes his head and sighs like she’s the dumbest girl he’s ever seen. His arms cross sternly across his chest. “That’s what you get for sticking your nose in a matter between two adults. It’s your own damn fault. You injured him. Heard you broke his nose. And, now you’ve got a criminal record. A criminal record that resulted in you being expelled from your school. Couldn’t find a school to accept you during your probation, so you transferred out here. Which your parents also approved.”

Her hands are gripping her skirt _very_ hard. He’s just rambling about this stuff, now. Does he think she doesn’t _know_ that this is what happened? That she hasn’t been thinking of it every day _since_ it happened? She’d come here for a new start, an _escape_ from… She stares directly forward, trying to find something to distract herself with. She doesn’t know how much more of this she can listen to-

“In other words, your parents got rid of you because you were a pain in the ass.”

There’s a sudden tearing sound in the room. He glances over at her in surprise. Her white-knuckled grip on her skirt has made a small tear in the end, trembling hands refusing to let go of the fabric. Her wide eyes just stare forward, trying to keep herself calm. It isn’t working _tremendously_ well, but… at least she hasn’t burst into tears, right? Sojiro looks at her for a few moments more, then starts speaking again. Maybe he realizes he crossed a sort of line, because his voice is quieter when he starts speaking again.

“...It’s best you not talk about anything unnecessary. I am in the restaurant business, you know. Look. Just behave yourself for the year. If nothing happens, you get your probation lifted. Seems like even you could do that, right?”

Her eyes lower to her feet. She doesn’t answer, anymore. It’s increasingly clear he isn’t interested in having a conversation with her. Or, even seeing her as a real person. He just wants to talk at her and then leave.

Sojiro doesn’t comment on her lack of words, merely moving it along to his next topic. She wouldn’t be surprised if he had little flashcards labeled ‘how to speak to the worthless criminal’ that told him each point of interest, considering the real demeaning way he was talking to her. “We’ll be going over to Shujin Academy, tomorrow. Introducing ourselves to the staff there. You better be grateful. Aren’t many schools that’ll accept someone like you, y’know.”

Oh, she’s _very_ aware of that, thank you. Please continue to berate and shove blame on the girl who was as polite to you as possible. She knows she’s the absolute scum of the earth, but _please_ keep going on about it as long as you like. It makes her very upset to be treated like this, but she just has to… endure.

He sighs as he turns toward the stairs to leave. “What a waste of my Sunday.”

Despite not really wanting to talk to him anymore, or ever really, she does need to know a few more things. “Erm. Sojiro-san? Sir?” She says, slowly turning herself around to face him. He’s still standing at the top of the stairs, though looking at her expectantly now. He didn’t look like he really seemed to _like_ being called that, but doesn’t offer anything else for her to go off of. She fiddles with her hands a little bit.

“There’s, ah… no door. On the room.”

“Why would you need a...”

She just stares at him for a few moments, hoping that her slowly narrowing eyes and frown help to really get the point across. There’s no way that she’s going to be changing up here and have him come wandering up while she was half naked. Of all the things she was going to take today, that is definitely not one of them. Thankfully, he seems to get the picture pretty quickly and swiftly clears his throat. This seems to be just as awkward for him to address as it is for her to ask. Good. It’s about time _he_ was the one that was uncomfortable. “Oh. Right. I’ll, um… work on that. See what we can do about getting you something to block the stairs off. In the meantime, just… tell me when you’re changing and I’ll steer clear. I'll try and let you know if I need to come up, otherwise.”

Sounds like that’s the best she’s going to get for now. Great, now she has to report all the times she’ll be naked to him. That’s just wonderful news.

“Where do I bathe or go to the bathroom? Or, ah… wash my clothes?”

“There’s a bathroom downstairs in the cafe and a public bath right across the street. Laundromat's down the street a ways. Use those. They’ll be more than enough for your needs.” He replies, a touch more dismissively at those options. Like that just solved all the problems with this situation. It doesn’t, really. But, at least she won’t have to worry about basic needs like that. She could… handle this. “If that’s all, I have to get back to work. Oh. That box over there is yours. It arrived yesterday. I think it’s probably got some of your stuff in it.”

With that, he descends back down the stairs and leaves her to her own devices.

She takes a long breath.

Okay, so that had been much harder than she had initially thought. Apparently, her new guardian just hated her on principle. Just saw her as nothing more than some criminal nuisance to shove up in his attic and forget about. She had hoped they might have gotten along at least a little bit. Nothing she could really do about that, though. If he was stuck in his mind to dislike her, then there’s not a lot she could do to change it. She just had to… do her best to be helpful and respectful. Hope that it was enough.

Sakura strolls over to the box that Sojiro had pointed out to her before he left. She nearly slips on the dust that’s all over the floor before she reaches it and her eyes narrow. Yeah, she’s going to have to do something about the state of this room. It was impossible for someone to live like this. If she’s going to make the best of this situation, she’s just going to have to put the work in herself. After checking out the box, filled with more of her clothes and a few pillows and books as expected, she decides to get right to work.

Not expecting Sojiro to come back so quickly after giving that long explanation, she quickly changes her clothes from the nicer set she was wearing into something more fit for cleaning. An old t-shirt and some shorts, along with putting her messy hair from a ponytail into a bun. Perfect for when you didn’t care about getting dirty. Because, she had a feeling this wasn’t going to be a simple case of ‘do a little dusting and call it a day’. After she moves over to open the windows and let some of this stuffy air out, she begins the painstaking process of cleaning the room to the best of her abilities. A great deal of time goes towards dusting the cobwebs out of the walls, mopping the floor down, and moving all the shit around. Sojiro had raised an eyebrow at her when she’d snuck down earlier to retrieve a mop and a bucket of soapy water, but otherwise hadn’t said anything else.

She’d done her best to organize the junk into mostly one area of the room. Obviously, there was nothing she could do about that right now. She’d probably have to get Sojiro to tell her where she could get rid of the stuff. She even managed to make space on one of the shelves to store her box of belongings in. By the time evening has rolled around, she’s made what she feels to be considerable progress. The floor is completely clean, the junk is all neatly piled away for removal, even the books on the bookshelf and desk are more organized until she can figure out what to do with them. She plops down on her ‘bed’ with a sigh, gently wiping her brow with the back of her hand. Moving all that heavy stuff wasn’t really a problem for her, it’s just that there was so _much_ of it. Now, she’s all sweaty and gross. Maybe a little gritty, too, because of the bits of dust and dirt clinging to her skin.

At least she has the pride that she did this all on her own to make her feel a little better. She didn’t need Sojiro’s help. She could manage this all on her own. This was good. This was fine.

“Coming up.” She hears from the stairs, Sojiro’s deep voice calling from about the midpoint. Sakura has to sigh in relief that he had the decency to actually that. It’s a bit of privacy that’s sorely lacking in this room, right now. Despite everything else he had said to make her feel like garbage, at least he some modicum of respect for her in that case. Or, maybe the idea of barging in on a potentially naked, underage girl just wasn’t appealing to him. Either way, she appreciates it. When she calls out in the affirmative, he appears at the top of the stairs.

Something satisfying curls through her head when she notes the surprise on his face. He looks around like it’s the first time he’s ever seen this room. Yeah, that’s right. She’d cleaned this whole thing by herself. Didn’t need anyone’s help doing it, either. He actually looks a bit impressed, his hand going up to stroke his goatee as he observes the room. “You know, I heard you making a big racket up here, but I didn’t think you’d actually be cleaning it up like this. Any more than mopping the floor down, anyway. But, look at this. You organized everything. Place doesn’t even look half bad… Guess it’s only natural a lady would want to keep her room clean.”

She blinks at him a few times. That almost sounded like a compliment of a sort. Maybe? His deadpan delivery makes it a little hard to tell. Then again, it’s more likely it was somehow still backhanded in a way she didn’t catch.

He gives her another look over, noting that she’s looking pretty dirty from spending the whole day cleaning the room. In another show of actual decency, he actually speaks up about that. “I was going to tell you that I was going to lock up and head home, but… You really look like you need a bath. We won’t have time for you to do it in the morning, so you might as well take it now. Don’t want your bed to get filthy right on the first night. I’ll wait up for you just this once, so don’t take too long. Plan your time better in the future.”

With a nod, she quickly gathers some pajamas from her box and heads out of the cafe. Like he had stated before, the bathhouse was right across the street from the cafe. Very easy and quick to get to. Considering his words before, she figures she should probably find a time to work in her baths before he locks up. Lots of things she’s going to have to consider from here on out. What she’ll do with her time, if she _can_ do anything with it. How she might pay for her laundry, since she doubts Sojiro is going to pay for it. How to work around these limitations put on her and make the best of her situation.

She’d given a look on her phone to check the time… only to find that strange app on her phone again. With it’s big, stupid eyeball looking at her. She makes a frustrated sound and just deletes it again with a frown. She has no idea why it keeps popping back up. “Guess I just have to reboot my phone. Not like I have anything I needed saved on there anyway.” She mumbles, deciding to just plop her phone in her bag and leave it for later. She goes to clean off, then decides to take a little more time in the warm baths proper. She knew Sojiro was waiting for her, but she’s honestly not all that in the mood to see his face so soon.

As she’s soaking in the water, her curls of midnight hair splayed out long and far, she closes her eyes. So, her voyage Tokyo hadn’t started the best. But, she thinks she can get through it with some hard work and determination. Besides, it’s not all bad. She’s going to be visiting her new school tomorrow. A new start there will surely make up for her newly disappointing home life. Maybe she could make some actual friends that _didn’t_ want to stab her in the back the moment they had a chance. Besides, she liked school. She liked the challenge, liked learning and keeping her grades up, liked talking with the teachers… maybe she could even try for a club? There were… ways to get through this.

She sighs pleasantly, enjoying the feeling of the warm water on her tired body. “I’m… excited for school!” She says aloud, despite the fact that there’s nobody else in the same bath as her, splaying her arms out wide.

“Good for you!” She hears somebody call from the next area over.

“Thank you!”


	4. Breaking Down

When she’d gone to sleep, that night, she’d expected it to be a restful one. She’d worked pretty hard for most of the day. You’d expect she’d be dead tired. But, instead, she couldn’t stop tossing and turning. And, even when she fell asleep, it had been full of strange, whispering voices. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they filled her with an intense sense of dread all over. Her eyes blink open when she hears the light rattling of chains around her.

_Chains? What?_

Sakura groans softly and rubs her temple as she sits up in bed. She pretty immediately realizes that this isn’t her room in the attic. Somehow, the bed she’s laying on is even _more_ uncomfortable. She has no idea how you could get more uncomfortable than a mattress just laying on some boxes, but this place had somehow managed to achieve this with the stiffest, lumpiest cot she’d ever experienced. Giving a quick glance around makes her gasp quietly. The room she’s in looks more or less like the jail cell she’d been thrown into when she was arrested that day. Small, cramped, stuffy… A similar setup. Cot, stone floor, a toilet she wouldn’t sit her ass on if someone paid her… The only difference is that the walls seemed to be lined with a deep blue velvet fabric.

Further exploration of her immediate surroundings leads her to realize that her pajamas have been changed into some manner of striped prison outfit. It’s tattered and worn, like whoever used to own it had worn it for quite some time. Who changed her clothes? Who put her here? Her hands clink and rattle as she puts her hand down. Her hands appear to have been cuffed together with a long link of chain. This was making her incredibly antsy. She spent a couple nights in a jail similar to this one and she can’t say she much cared for the experience. This jail is much the same. But, much… weirder. In more ways than one.

The hazy, dreamlike quality of the area doesn’t help. It’s like everything in her range of vision comes into clarity, while the world in the corner of her eyes blurs and fades. She tries to rationalize this. Maybe she’s just sleeping. Maybe this is all one big, stress-induced dream she’s having. Like that weird freezing thing that happened in Shibuya. Maybe this is all because she cleaned that room the entire day and didn’t eat a damn thing in between. She knew she’d been forgetting something.

Her thoughts are broken up when she hears a quiet giggle to her side. As she rises up to investigate the noise, despite every instinct telling her to just lie back down and pretend she saw nothing, she notes that her leg also seems to be chained. Though, instead of being chained to the other leg, it’s just chained to a big, metal ball. The heaviness of the thing only allows her to walk up to the barred door directly in front of her, bare feet patting quietly on the stone floor. She grabs onto the bars and peers out. Two little girls come into view, standing right next to each other.

They stare at her with golden eyes, each one having an eyepatch of the opposite eye of their partner. Both are dressed in what appears to be some sort of official-looking clothing. Like the kind of thing wardens at a prison might wear. For all intents and purposes, they looked nearly identical in their neat, blue uniforms. The only difference is which side their eyepatch is on and their hairstyle. The one on the left has twin braids of platinum hair, carrying a notebook and an impassive stare. The one on the right has twin buns and what looks to be some sort of baton. Her expression looks a little more aggressive, regarding her with a sneer as the two step back away from each other and gesture forward.

Her eyes follow their direction until she comes right into the sight of… some sort of goblin looking man. Whoever he is, he seems to have everything he needs to make himself look intimidating. Long, spindly limbs, piercing, bloodshot eyes, and a long nose that extends down nearly past his chin. He looks.. human and not. Like something’s wrong with him. She grips the bars a little tighter, her eyes widening in a mix of shock and confusion. He doesn’t say anything, just grinning over at her for the time being. Sakura finds herself having… several questions. Who were these people? Where was she, in general? Why was she here? She snaps back to attention when the goblin starts to laugh in a low, rumbling tone that she can feel deep in her bones.

“Trickster… Welcome to my Velvet Room.”

Sakura blinks at the man, wondering why he would address her like that. As if he knew she was coming. But, there’s also a more pressing matter on her mind. She cocks her head a little bit. “What’s with that nose…?” She finds herself murmuring.

Both of the girls jolt. But, only the one with the baton reacts immediately. She viciously bangs it on the metal door, a loud ‘clang’ sounding out in the otherwise quiet space. She sounds indignant and furious. Like if she could barge in there and throttle Sakura to death, she absolutely would. “Wha- That’s our master you’re talking about, _Inmate_! Show him the proper respect he deserves!”

“How rude.” The other girl chimes in.

The man only laughs again, seeming amused by the two. As if their reactions were just something he expected to happen. “I am delighted to make your acquaintance.” He rumbles, steepling his fingers on the desk. “I expect you’re wondering what the Velvet Room is. This place… exists between dream and reality. Mind and matter. Even you are merely experiencing this as a dream, safely tucked back into your real bed.”

His head tilts a little bit. “It is a room that only those bound by a contract may enter. One such as yourself.”

“A contract..?” She murmurs in response. What kind of contract? She’d never signed anything. What was he talking about? Nothing about this was making any sense.

His hand gestures to himself. That unnerving grin of his never seems to cease, stuck on his face permanently as he speaks. To say she’s a little bit intimidated by him would be an understatement. He gives off all sorts of bad vibes for her. Though, she supposes he’s been pleasant save for putting her in this jail cell. “I am Igor. The master of this place. Remember it well.”

If he notices that she still looks very confused, he doesn’t comment on it. He just continues speaking in that low, grave voice of his. “I have summoned you here to speak of important matters that involve your own life, as well.”

Sakura chews her lip, eyes sliding over to the girl with the baton. She’s got a real sadistic look in her eye. Almost like she’s begging her to say something stupid again. So, instead of saying anything, she just nods and sends a nervous smile to the girl. Maybe it would be best to just listen, for now.

Igor continues, leaning his head in one hand and starting to clack his fingers along the wood of the desk. His eyes slowly drift around the various cells encircling him before finally landing back on Sakura. “I’ll admit that this is a surprise. You see, the Velvet Room reflects the state of one’s own heart. To think the state of yours would be a prison such as this… It seems you truly are a prisoner of fate.”

He leans forward a bit. “In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin awaits you.”

Sakura takes a step back and shakes her head a bit. It makes the curls of her hair jostle. It’s hard enough trying to accept that she’s not going crazy from all this, but now this… Igor guy is saying something terrible is ahead. No, it can’t be… how could things get worse? Hasn’t she had enough done to her, already? “What… What do you mean by ruin? How do I-” She starts to ask quietly.

“Heh. Worry not, Trickster. There are means for you to oppose such a fate. To do this… you must be rehabilitated. Rehabilitated toward freedom. That is the only means for you to avoid this coming ruin.” He states, cutting off her question before she finishes. He stares silently at her for a few moments before speaking again. Almost as if he were observing her reactions the whole way. Trying to gauge what she feels about his words. “...Do you have the will? Do you have the _resolve_ to challenge the distortion of the world?”

“I mean… I’d rather avoid ruin, if I can help it. That sounds… pretty bad.”

Igor laughs in response and nods his head. “Then, allow me to observe the path of your rehabilitation.”

He glances between the two girls that are still glaring at her. She’ll admit that, while Igor might intimidate her, these girls have their own aura about them. The one on the left is quiet, but the impassive look on her face makes it impossible to tell what she’s thinking. The one on the right is brash and aggressive, seeming like she might get a kick out of lighting Sakura up with that baton of hers. Both combine to form a twosome that she should probably avoid setting off if she can help it. That’s definitely true, but… they’re also kind of adorable all dressed up in their little outfits? Acting like they’re trying to be all in command and adult. Particularly the one on the right, who keeps puffing herself up to look like she’s big. Probably because Sakura’s height makes her look even tinier. She keeps that bit to herself.

“Ah. Forgive me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline. To your left is Justine. They will serve as your wardens during your rehabilitation.” Igor comments, gesturing to each girl as he names them.

Caroline is still glaring at her, starting to tap her baton into her palm. She gets right on her tip toes and puffs her chest out, scowling dangerously. “Behave yourself, Inmate. You don’t want to make me mad.”

Yeah, she’s seeing that pretty clearly right now. Girl looks distinctly murderous.

Justine clears her throat softly as the other girl growls and glares. “Our duty as wardens is to protect our Inmate. But, we are also your collaborators.” She takes a slow, careful look to her scowling partner, then looks back to Sakura. “That is… if you remain obedient.”

“Cross us at your own peril!”

The deep baritone of Igor’s voice cuts into the conversation and draws the attention of all three of the girls. They turn their backs to Sakura and stand at attention toward their master. “I shall explain the rules of these two at another occasion. For, I am afraid the night is waning. It is almost time. Take your time to slowly understand what you can of this place. For now, I must bid you farewell.”

Wait, what? He was just going to leave her like this? Without explaining anything else past ominous warnings of ruin and vague allusions to rehabilitation? “What a minute, what are you even talking about-”

Igor ignores her. He gestures outward and looks up as a loud ringing fills the area. It’s inescapable, penetrating into her very mind. She winces and covers up her ears as her vision begins to blur. The hazy, dreamlike quality of the room becomes a wash of colors, mixing and swirling together. Like some sort of painting made by a madman. She can vaguely hear the turn of a heel and Caroline’s voice cutting through her groggy haze.

_Time’s up, Inmate! Hurry up and go back to sleep!_

* * *

Sakura jolts awake with a sharp gasp. Her hands are immediately feeling around her wrists for the cuffs that she’d felt around them. Her hands don’t come into contact with anything but skin. She looks quickly around to find no trace of the Velvet Room in sight. No chains, no jail cell, no weird kids dressed in warden attires… The attic is the same as when she had collapsed into her bed last night. It’s as if it all had never happened. But, it had felt so damn real when she was in it… “What a weird dream… It felt like I was… really there.” She murmurs softly, looking down at her wrist and gently rubbing it.

She can almost feel the cold metal.

She shakes her head, making her messy bedhead all the worse. “Whatever. It was just a weird dream. Had to be. Ruin, rehabilitation, the big jail cell… It’s all just… my mind projecting my worries into my dreams. That’s all that was. Nothing more.”

Even saying it aloud, she still doesn’t quite believe in what she’s saying.

Well, either way, she should probably get ready to head out. A check of her phone tells her it’s still pretty early. Sojiro probably isn’t even here, quite yet. But, she’d rather be ready too early than too late. So, she hefts herself off the bed and moves over to get out her box of clothes. She doesn’t have the school uniform yet, which she assumes that she’ll receive today, so she just picks out a combination similar to the one she picked out yesterday. Something simple that doesn’t make her stand out too much. She’s hoping for a better introduction with the school than with Sojiro.

She’s about halfway into pulling her tights up her long legs when she hears the jingling of the cafe’s door downstairs. A few steps come right up toward the stairs, though stop before making any real progress up them. Sojiro’s voice calls up to the attic. “Hey. I’m coming up. You decent?”

“Just a second!” She calls back to him, hurriedly pulling her tights the rest of the way up. As requested, she doesn’t hear the sound of his movement until she calls back down that he’s fine to come up. The girl sits back on her bed to start putting on her shoes when Sojiro finally appears at the top of the stairs. Her mouth actually falls open when he steps into the room.

Because that… that is certainly a look.

Sojiro is still wearing the same sort of salmon colored shirt as he was before, but has added a blindingly white jacket to his attire. There’s a little hat on his head with striped fabric around the center, slanted down on his head at a bit of an angle. Is that… his ‘going out’ attire or something? It’s so… bright. He doesn’t seem to know or care about the fact that she’s staring at his clothes. “Well, looks like you got up in your own time. That’s good. I didn’t want to have to wake you up. If you’re ready, let’s head down to Shujin to talk to the staff about your transfer. It’s in the Aoyama district.”

He squints and adjusts his hat, taking a quick check of the time on a watch strapped to his wrist. “We’re on a bit of a schedule this morning. It’ll take too long to get there by train. The transfers are a real hassle, too. So, I’ll drive you down to the school for today. Only today. Don’t get any thoughts in your head that this will be a regular thing, got it? I’m not your personal chauffeur.”

“Right.” Sakura replies, giving him a small bow.

“You won’t need anything else for today. You can just come as you are.” He gives a nod back before turning around to leave the room. The implication seems to be to just follow him after she gets her shoes all the way on. Her eyebrow raises as he mutters to himself, the floor lightly creaking with his steps. “Jeez. Don’t usually let young girls into my passenger seat.”

_What a weird thing to say._

The night apart hadn’t really seemed to soften his views on her. He was still irritated by her presence. Acted like every little thing he had to provide was a waste of his time and energy. She feels like getting any help from Sojiro is going to be like drawing blood from a stone. She’ll just have to learn quickly how to provide for herself. She’s sure that there’s plenty of places around here that are looking for students they could pay for part-time work. That’s the way it was back home, so the need was surely greater in a big city like Tokyo. Considering he still hadn’t really offered anything in the way of food, she guesses that might just be on her to figure out.

She takes a deep breath and reminds herself of what she’d told herself last night. She was going to do her best at school. If she couldn’t fully enjoy her life at home, she could at least put her efforts into her studies. Enjoy herself there like she always had. She was sure that this was all going to work out much better.

* * *

That crack at the hope in her heart has widened considerably.

There were only three other people in this room. Sojiro, the principal, and a yet unnamed woman. All of which she was taller than. But, even so, she still felt like the smallest person in the room. Her posture only helped this, as she had remained more or less bowed with her head down for the entire time she’d been here. Sojiro was scribbling away at the paperwork they’d needed signed to confirm her transfer and that he, as her current guardian, allowed it.

He was watched over silently by the principal. As soon as she’d walked into the principal’s office, she’d felt the clear disdain and distrust he had for her. It had practically rolled off him in waves. He couldn’t have made it more clear that she was unwelcome. He was a very large man in an ill-fitting tan suit, the collar of which seemed to push the fat of his neck up and out. His big, bulgy eyes look between Sojiro and Sakura slowly. He adjusts his collar and levels the raven-haired girl with a glare. “Just so we’re clear, Miss Kurusu, you will be _immediately_ expelled if you cause any problems. In my personal opinion, you are nothing but a liability to our school. Whatever background you may have had doesn’t really matter anymore.”

She keeps her head bowed, trying to keep herself calm. She was so stupid. So foolish to think that she could have come here and expected any different. Nobody wants her here, either, if the principal’s attitude was any indication. Even the woman standing by his side looks like she would rather be anywhere but here. She was being surrounded on both sides by people who thought she was nothing more than some worthless trash they were blessing with the _privilege_ of providing her with basic needs and an education. The injustice of it all reminds her very starkly of her arrest. Taken in without an opportunity to explain or fight for her own image. Treated like the lowest of the low. Why did they even let her attend their school, then, if she’s such a bother?

“But, we had our own circumstances to consider.”

Ah, there it is.

He continues, still directly meeting her with his glare. Just like Sojiro, she lets him talk. Why would he want the criminal nuisance to his school to talk, anyway? So, she stays quiet as he continues to lay into her. Even Sojiro is giving her occasional glances as the principal speaks so harshly to her. You know it has to be bad when even the guy who berated her so heavily yesterday thinks this is a bit too far. “Whatever you might have gotten away with at your old school? Those days are _over_. I do hope you understand, Miss Kurusu. If you are thrown out of our school, there will be no place for you to go. As such, your activities will be closely monitored. You are only allowed to attend your scheduled classes and that’s it. We don’t want you wandering around the school grounds unnecessarily or attacking anyone, after all. Don’t expect any forgiving treatment. Be sure to keep these things in mind as we go forward.”

After clearing his throat and adjusting his collar again, he introduces the woman to his side as Sadayo Kawakami. Her homeroom teacher. Sakura’s first thought is that the woman is awfully pretty. Even given the circumstances right now, her mind could still acknowledge that. She was a pretty short lady with a yellow striped shirt (the sleeves of which seemed just slightly too long for her arms) and a long dress. She feels a kindred spirit in the teacher in her very curly hair. Kawakami looks like she has the same kind of hair that eats combs as Sakura, herself. If she didn’t look dead tired and sick of being there, Sakura might have even offered her a smile. She doesn’t, though. She’s not sure she could if she tried.

“Here’s your student ID.” Kawakami murmurs, placing Sakura’s card down on the desk from the small stack of things she’s holding. Sakura gives it a glance. Her picture had been taken when they’d gotten here. It’s strange to think how far away that small, hopeful smile on her face is now. Her eyebrow raises as she sees some sort of pink, flowery brochure underneath. Her ID covers most of it, so she can’t really get a good view of what it-

Suddenly, the pink brochure underneath is swiped out from underneath her picture. She looks back up to see Kawakami go a bit pink in the cheeks and tuck whatever it was back into her stack. The teacher gives the quickest glance to the principal, almost as if to make sure he didn’t notice anything, before looking back to Sakura. Wondering what that was, but being smart enough not to ask, she grabs her ID off the table. Kawakami seems to get the flush off her cheeks in the meantime. Enough that she goes back to that tired expression she had before. “...Be sure to read the school rules. Any violations will get you sent to the guidance office. Particularly anything perceived as aggressive. I won’t be able to protect you at all, either. It will be out of my hands completely at that point. That… is what you promised, yes, Principal Kobayakawa?”

“Mhm. She is responsible for all of her own actions.”

Kawakami lets out a quiet, tired sigh. Sakura finds herself clenching her hands into fists as she hears the teacher start to complain about having to have her in her class. Her eyes squeeze tightly closed and she suppresses the desire to just run out of the room. Or, to cry. Even both. This isn’t how any of this was supposed to go. This was supposed to be a new start. Something to look forward to. They were supposed to _help_ her. But, it’s just the same old shit, isn’t it? People don’t want her here anymore than they wanted her back in her hometown. She’s just a big burden on everybody, isn’t she? Because it’s just _so hard_ to show someone who’s clearly in trouble even a speck of decency.

_She didn’t even fucking do anything wrong. She’s the one who got the shit kicked out of her. Who treats another person this way?_

Sojiro clears his throat gruffly. For once, she’s actually glad to hear him speak. At least it isn’t more genuine hatred from the pig-looking man sitting at the desk. “Hey, if we’re done with all this paperwork, can we get going? I’ve got a store to get back to, y’know.”

Kobayakawa nods sternly and folds his hands over his desk. His little lean forward makes him look all the larger. “Indeed. I believe we’re finished here. Make sure to keep an eye on her, Sakura-san. Don’t let her cause any problems outside the school, either.”

The cafe owner looks briefly indignant that the principal is talking to him this way. But, he just sighs and nods. “…Yeah, I’ll do that. I’m sure she knows how serious her situation is.” He replies, eyelids lowering just a touch.

Kawakami looks between the two men, then rolls her eyes. She turns toward Sakura as she dares to come up from her bowed position. “Make sure you grab your uniform on the way out. Your measurements got sent ahead of you, so it should fit fine. If it doesn’t, just tell me and we’ll see about replacing it. When you come in tomorrow morning, come straight to the faculty office. Preferably a bit early, if you can help it. I’ll show you to your classroom from there. Don’t be late.”

And, the girl doesn’t do much more than nod silently in response.

With that business seemingly concluded, Sakura and Sojiro leave the principal’s office. The teacher doesn’t immediately follow, so she assumes the woman still has things to discuss with him. The hallways are less stifling than that office, but not really by much. Everything seems to take on a different tone when you know you’re not wanted. Sojiro rubs the back of his neck as they walk silently through the halls. He seems to have sensed how far her mood has dropped from the time they came in to now. “That principal, yeesh. Guy really grilled you, huh? Well, that’s what a record’ll do for you. Doesn’t matter where you go. It’ll follow you like a shadow.”

She’s beginning to truly realize that, now. She doesn’t reply.

“...Look, kid. Just keep your head down and do your best. Nothing matters for you, right now, except keeping your nose clean and doing good in school. You do that for the year and your probation will be done. That’s all you have to look forward to. That should be your one and only concern.” Sojiro says after a moment of contemplation and goatee stroking. “Just don’t cause any problems and get kicked out of school. You’ll get the same from me, if that ever happens.”

She still doesn’t respond. Just vaguely nods.

“...Anyway. That’s all I had to say. Let’s just get your uniform and get back home.”

_Right… home. Whatever that means, anymore._

After picking up her uniform, she briefly stops by one of the vending machines just outside the school to get a snack with some of the money she still had left over. It isn’t much, but it’ll tide her over until she can afford something more substantial. Sojiro notes this with surprise (and perhaps a touch of guilt) as she quickly and hungrily scarfs down some manner of bun. She wolfs it down fast enough that she barely even tastes it, but she can’t complain if it fills her belly even a little bit.

* * *

The ride home had been about as awkward as she’d expected. It was clear that Sojiro didn’t really seem to know how to talk to her. He seemed a touch less blatantly derogatory toward her than he had been before after seeing her put through the wringer with the principal, though. He’d actually asked her what she thought about the school. Her answer had been generic. Something like ‘sounds fun’, even if she hadn’t really meant it. To be honest, if all the teachers were going to look at her like that, she’s not sure how it could possibly be anything close to a pleasant experience. He’d seemed satisfied enough with that answer. Then, he’d revealed that the reason he took her in was he got paid. Made sense, she supposed. She’d held her real feelings inside.

The news about the subway accident hadn’t exactly fill her with confidence, considering she’d be riding it from now on. And, the further information from Sojiro about the young girl who had recently passed away as a victim of something similar just… didn’t really add to the mood. The more she hears about these mental shutdown cases, the scarier they become. She didn’t tell him that. Didn’t mention how scared she was of this new, big city with all it’s frightening occurrences. Scared of having not one person that was on her side.

Sojiro had been in a bit of a rush by the time they made it back home. Especially after he’d gotten a call on his phone. The person he’d spoken to had brought out a side of him that she didn’t expect to see. Whoever was on the other end had brought out a tone that sounded almost… loving. He spoke at a quieter tone, the smile coming to his face warm and genuine. When he’d regarded her again, it was just the same Sojiro she’d come to know and expect. She hated it. She’d held it together, though. Didn’t tell him that she wished he’d show her even a little bit of that kindness he was clearly capable of.

He’d made sure not to tell her to steal anything, too. Because, of course he would think she would, wouldn’t he?

Sakura’s sitting on her bed now, hair undone from it’s ponytail and flowing down her back. Curly bangs hang in front of her eyes, glasses set carefully onto a rickety little table next to her. There’s a pen and a small diary in her hands. Sojiro had told her to ‘record her daily events’ in here before he’d left the cafe. Another way to monitor her activity, most likely. Another thing about her life that’s out of her own control. Something she can’t change no matter how hard she tries. Another spiral in the series of events that have steadily ruined her life. Her trembling hand gently places the pen to paper. She hesitates, her breath hitching a few times before she actually starts writing.

_-4/10-_

_I don’t know what to do. They don’t even know me. Why are they treating me like this?_

_I was just trying to be a good person. Why do they all hate me so_

A tear plops down on the page, smearing the ink of the last word. Her hands clench around the pen and journal. Before she can stop them, hot tears are gushing into her eyes and blurring her vision. She can’t cry. She has to keep it together. She can do this. She can _do_ this. Even if there’s not a single person on her side, she _has_ to do this. Even as tears flow down her cheeks and dribble off her chin, she stands stock still. Just sits there and trembles violently. She feels like the last shred of her sanity is hanging on by a thread. It’s steadily fraying even as she sits here.

She’d come here under the impression that she could just try and be herself and it would turn out alright. That she could slot right back into where she was. Try and pick up the pieces and glue them back together. But, she was kidding herself. She could no longer be Sakura Kurusu, volleyball lead and star student with a bright future. She was Sakura Kurusu, the criminal. The burden. The unwanted. The girl who got beaten by the police and dragged to a cell because she _deserved_ it. She _had_ no future. No matter how much she wanted to, she could _never_ escape that.

A scream tears through her throat as she jolts from the bed and pitches the journal right into the wall. It bounces off and thumps to the floor hard. Her hands come up to roughly scrub the tears away from her cheeks. She can’t stop the sobs that start shuddering through her body as she falls to her knees in her dismal attic room. Her breaths are hard and fast, nails digging into the floor. Her messy hair falls all around her, covering her like a shroud. All of a sudden, it all seemed like too much. All over her.

Her eyes raise up slowly. They come upon a pair of scissors in the pile of junk that still hasn’t been moved from the room. Shakily, she makes her way to her feet and walks over to grab them. If she couldn’t even be the Sakura she always wanted to be, what was the point of trying to keep looking like her? Her fingers close around the scissors tightly, knuckles white as they squeeze.

With barely another thought, she’s gathered her hair into a single fist. There’s no hesitation as she makes a harsh, jagged chop just above her shoulders. The midnight hair comes off into her hand. A long length of curls now cast away. A life cast aside. Her shoulders shake as she weeps for it.

Now, she truly is Sakura Kurusu, the broken girl with the criminal record. The girl who would just have to do as everyone said. To have her life plotted out for her.

Her sobs slowly die down as her throat becomes raw. She just stands silently in her room with her length of hair clenched in her hand. The only reason she looks up is because she hears the sound of the phone ringing from downstairs. She has half a mind to ignore it, exhausted from.. everything, but it could be important. She sighs and retrieves her glasses before heading downstairs to answer it. She tosses the hair in the garbage can on the way.

“Hello?” She croaks into the yellow phone when she reaches it, bringing it up to her ear.

There’s silence on the other line. A good, long silence. It stretches on long enough that she wonders if whoever is on the other end even knows what they’re doing. She sighs again, tired. “Look.. Is there anyone there or not? This is the Leblanc cafe-”

“Hey. It’s me.” Sojiro’s voice finally says. He sounds quieter than usual.

“Oh. Hi.” She replies back, unable to help sniffling quietly. “What is it?”

“I, ah… just remembered that I closed up the shop, but I forgot to turn the open sign around to closed. It’s too much of a hassle to go all the way back there just to flip it around. I was wondering if you could do it for me.” The man replies, sounding a bit awkward. “I don’t keep people’s numbers on my phone that aren’t my age. So, I’m glad you picked up here. Think you could do that?”

“Yeah. Sure.” She says, just wanting to be done hearing his nonsense already. She’s not sure she’ll be able to handle another in-depth discussion of how fucked she is. Or, how much of a terrible person he probably thinks she is. She leans on the counter. “Is that all?”

“Yeah. Yeah, that’s all.”

“Alright.”

She hangs up the call and rubs her puffy eyes. All this has left her feeling pretty drained, as if the day itself hadn’t been exhausting enough. So, she flips the stupid sign over and goes right back upstairs to get into her bed. After collapsing into it, she blandly checks her phone one last time… only to growl in frustration. That stupid app is right back on her screen again. “Would you _take a fucking hint, already_?” She growls as she drags the app into the bin once again.

She doesn’t know why that thing keeps popping up. She even rebooted her phone before bed last night! With a resigned groan, she just plugs her phone in and tosses it on the little table next to her bed. Her glasses soon follow. She curls in on herself and does her best to get herself comfortable. Well, as comfortable as you could be on this bed. At least she has a few of her pillows from home to add.

Her eyes slowly close.

Time to truly begin her new life.


	5. The Castle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fated bros finally meet!

Waking up that morning had been an odd experience. Sakura didn’t have another one of those weird dreams like the night before, but she still woke up groggy and unfocused. The headache she’s got starting up in her temple is annoying enough that she wouldn’t doubt if it ended up making her cranky this morning. Having her little freak-out yesterday had helped a little bit, but not by much. Her head is still muddled with negative thoughts. Put shortly, she’s in the worst mood imaginable for going to her first day of school. She’s going to have to go take the trains like this. Figure out the transfer all the way down to Shujin Academy. Somehow try and get some breakfast on the way as, if she goes another morning without food, her stomach is likely going to stage a mutiny. She thinks she still has money left. But, she’d need to try and find a part-time job soon.

She winces. _If they don’t just spit in her face and tell her to leave immediately._

Oh, well. She yawns and reaches for her glasses, instinctively moving her other hand back to start putting her hair up. Her fingers grasp against nothing. Oh, that’s right. Last night, she’d chopped a good majority of her hair off. She finds herself ruffling her hand through the short locks as she places her glasses on her nose. Curious, she grabs her phone and flips it to the selfie mode to have a look at herself.

It’s amazing how something as simple as the length of your hair changes your whole look. She looks more mature. Like the long hair had been the last bastion of innocence holding her together. Her shorter hair has kept it’s curliness, perhaps having become even more so without the previous weight holding it down. It reminds her a bit of that teacher’s hair from yesterday, but somehow messier. It looks… good. Nice, even. But, more importantly, she looks nothing like how she used to look. If she was going to endure these endless barbs and attacks, she couldn’t keep holding onto the idle fantasies and hopes of the past. She had to live in her real world, now.

Sakura fluffs her hair a bit before stretching and getting up to get dressed for school. She’d been too upset last night to actually try on her uniform, but it seems to fit decently. The blazer isn’t too tight, nor is the shirt underneath. She wishes the skirt was a little lower. She bets it wasn’t exactly made with a girl that had legs as long as hers in mind. Either that or the designers just liked the idea of school girls in skirts that went above their knees.She decides that she won’t just be wearing the skirt and deems it necessary to put a familiar pair of dark, black tights on under it. Nobody’s seeing her damn underwear, if she can help it.

While changing, her stomach gurgles insistently. Almost as if it’s demanding that it be fed more than that bun from yesterday. She thinks she remembers passing a Triple Seven on her way here. Maybe they’d have something cheap and breakfasty for her to grab real quick. She’d have to be _really_ quick about it, though. She doubts that she’d have much in the way of time when she has the trains to figure out.

After tossing her bag over her shoulder and gathering what she’ll need, she heads down the stairs and into the cafe proper.

Sojiro is waiting at the counter and casually reading a newspaper. He must have come in while she was still asleep. There’s a plate of steaming curry and coffee sitting on the counter. Likely for a customer who would be in soon or something. Even so, Sakura can’t help her mouth starting to water as soon as that familiar scent of spices curls into her nose. It smells so damn good and she’s _so_ hungry right now. Her stomach agrees with that assessment and deems it necessary to rumble as loudly as possible as she gets close enough.

When Sojiro looks up and sees Sakura’s hair, he looks understandably shocked. She imagines she would be to, if she saw someone make that drastic of a change to themselves. “You… cut your hair.”

“Yeah. I… It was time for a change.” She replies quietly, not meeting him in the eyes. Her grip on her bag tightens a little bit. “I have to go now.”

“...Wait a second.” He says, stopping her before she can take another step. She stiffens up a little bit before slowly turning around to face him. Sojiro’s hand comes up to rub the back of his neck again, looking guilty. “This is for you. Things have been so hectic lately, I… realize I’ve neglected to feed you. That’s entirely my fault. So, I’ll do that for you. Just make sure you finish eating it before the customers start coming in, okay?”

She doesn’t even question the fact that it’s curry for breakfast. Because, not only is the first thing he’s actually _given_ her that didn’t come with a thinly veiled insult or assault of her character, her stomach is pretty much in the mode where it will accept anything that even looks like something to eat. She stares at the food, then sends a questioning look back to Sojiro.

“I wasn’t lying. It’s yours. Just eat it, alright-”

The older man actually jumps as she practically _leaps_ into a nearby stool and digs right in. Sakura would never consider herself a connoisseur of food. She didn’t really know fancy ways to describe flavors or textures. But, as a former athlete, she _does_ know a thing or two about scarfing down a lot good food. And, she can tell that this curry is _good_ food. It’s probably a little disrespectful to the effort of the recipe to eat it like this, but she can’t help herself. She’s downed more than half the plate by the time she thinks to take a breath. And, when she looks up with a mouth full of rice, Sojiro is staring at her.

“...Did you even taste any of that?”

She chews a bit and swallows what’s in her mouth. Licks a bit of sauce from her lips. She tries to save face a bit by taking a much more dainty sip of her coffee. Which is also absolutely delicious. “Mhm. Yeah. But... Well, you said to be quick, right? I can eat pretty fast. I have to get going, anyway. Kawakami-sensei said to be there early and I still have to navigate the trains.”

After saying her part, she goes to finish off the last of the meal. That seems to satisfy Sojiro for the most part, as he just nods and leans on the counter a bit. When she finishes the curry, she pulls herself away and gives him a respectful bow. Her stomach will thank him, at the very least. It doesn’t make up for what he’s said, but it’s better than nothing. “Thank you for the food.”

“It’s nothing. Like you said, you’d better get going. Don’t want to be late on your first day.” He says after a small pause. When Sakura moves over to the door, Sojiro clears his throat once more. She peers over her shoulder at him as her hand reaches the handle. “Make sure to flip the sign to open on your way out, if you could. Don’t get lost, country girl.”

Was he… teasing her? The little lilt to his words at the end made it seem like it. It was almost… good-natured? She’s not really sure where _that_ came from. But, she won’t complain if he wants to actually talk to her like a person now. She offers a tiny smile and makes sure to flip the sign on her way out of the cafe.

* * *

It had taken her some time to figure out where she was actually supposed to go to get to the right place, resulting in her nearly wandering into the wrong area a few times. The ride had been… really something she was going to have to get used to. People were crammed in together so tightly that there was hardly room to breathe. Even the train she’d rode into Tokyo hadn’t been this packed! She hadn’t been able to get a seat like last time, either. So, she’d been forced to stand.

She’d really hoped she didn’t run into any of the infamous ‘subway gropers’ that she’d heard rumors about. It was less about actually getting felt up and more like… she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from cracking them with her elbow immediately. And, knowing her luck, the groper would probably sue her and win. Because that’s just the way justice worked, evidently. Thankfully, her elbows hadn’t needed the workout.

The only problem was that, the moment she stepped out of the station, it had started raining pretty hard.

And, being the idiot that she was, she hadn’t thought to bring an umbrella. Now her glasses were all smeared with water.

Sakura had ducked under an awning for a nearby store to get out of the way of the rain, hoping that it would eventually let up a little. She still had time to get to the school early enough. Even if she stopped for a few moments to wait it out and clean her glasses, it was workable. Er… hopefully. Bored and running her hand against her newly short hair, she flips her phone out of her bag with the intentions of looking at some articles or something. Only to find that same app has returned to her phone, yet again.

At this point, all she can really muster is a resigned sigh. She guesses this is just going to be a recurring thing. She sure as hell can’t afford a new phone right now. Welcome to the home screen, little eyeball buddy. You have officially beaten the fight out of the owner of this phone. Her eyes narrow a bit as it takes up her whole screen again.

_Okay, you’re the absolute worst._

Sakura becomes aware that someone has walked underneath this awning with her by the light sound of footsteps. A girl has stepped in next to her to escape the rain, as well. She doesn’t really blame her. Rain sucks to get caught up in. She appears to have forgotten her umbrella, too, given that her only protection she has is a hood. Tilting her head a bit, she regards the other girl a bit more closely. She’s wearing a Shujin Academy uniform with a few alterations. The first is a hoodie underneath her blazer, it’s hood currently up and covering her face. She, also, appears to have had the same mindset about the skirt as Sakura did. Though, she seems to have completely ditched it in favor of just wearing a pair of thick, red tights. She has to smile a bit at that. Fellow tall girl, huh?

She wonders if she could ditch this particular skirt, too. Wear something else. Probably not. Knowing how that principal acted, deciding not to wear the skirt would probably be an excuse to expel her or something.

The other girl slips her hands up to pull the hood down from her head, shaking out a waterfall of blonde hair. Sakura _knows_ that her mouth falls open at that. _Knows_ that her eyes are wide. But, she can’t really help it. This girl is… very pretty. Girls… are very pretty. Yes.

And, she pulled off her hair incredibly. Even when Sakura had her long hair up in any sort of style, is seemed to still be too curly to effectively control. But, this girl… her hair was pleasant and wavy, falling down her body in only the most graceful of curls. She’d even taken her hair out of a hood and didn’t even have it messed up! How did she _do_ that?

Said girl must feel Sakura’s eyes on her, as she slowly glances in her direction. Feeling weird, Sakura blushes and smiles apologetically. “Sorry. You’re- Your hair’s just really pretty. I could never get mine to look that good out of a hood when… when it was long.”

Not that it was that long ago, but the point still stands,

There’s the slightest tilt upward of the blonde’s lips in response to that. The silence that follows, somehow, doesn’t seem awkward. It’s probably one of the more comfortable silences that she’s had since she arrived in Tokyo. Then, the girl turns back to her. Her mouth opens as if she was about to say something, though she falls quiet when a silver car slowly pulls up to the street in front of them. Sakura’s eyes slip over to it with raised eyebrows. The window rolls down to reveal a guy with curly hair and a broad, strong jaw, dressed up in what looks to be a blue tracksuit. Sporty guy, perhaps? She remembers her coach wearing something similar back in her hometown. He has a friendly smile on his face as he looks the two girls over. And, for some reason… it makes her feel incredibly strange. It’s like it’s a smile that isn’t real. A mask of kindness stretched wrong over something hidden.

It pretty much starts ringing all her warning bells immediately.

“Morning. You need me to give you a ride? You’re gonna be late, if you’re waiting for the rain to stop. Set to be going on all morning.” He asks, leaning over closer to the passenger’s side to get a better look. The blonde girl seems to recognize him, at the very least. As, she offers a small smile and thanks him as she steps over to get in the car. Sakura’s hand briefly starts to go up, as if to stop her. But, it really isn’t any of her business, is it? If she knows him and is willing to get into his car, well...

The man looks to her, as well, after the blonde buckles herself in. His gaze lingers in a way that just seems observational, but… the feeling of dread doesn’t go away. It’s a bit too long, a bit too roaming for her liking. Gives her the creeps. “You need a lift, too? Plenty of room in the back.”

“Oh, ah… no, I’m fine. Thank you, though.”

He shrugs and doesn’t appear to be too bothered by it. If anything, it looks like nothing could could possibly ruin his mood. The same couldn’t be said for the blonde, as she can just barely see her face fall to something sad and uncomfortable as the window rolls back up. Sakura winces a little, wondering if she really _should_ have said something as the car pulls away. That girl looked so uncomfortable, there…

She sighs.

A figure shoots past her as the car goes down the street, sudden enough to make her gasp in surprise. It’s another blonde student from Shujin, though dressed a lot more haphazardly than any of the couple she’s seen so far. From what she can see of his back, his uniform is wrinkled and thrown on as more of an afterthought than any duty of following the dress code. His hair is a bright blonde, though is obviously dyed, unlike that girl. It’s kinda cool, honestly. He grunts and kicks at a puddle in frustration. “Dammit. Screw that pervy teacher.”

She cocks her head a little bit, frowning. “...Pervy teacher…?”

The boy suddenly rounds on her, looking at her as if he’d just noticed she was there. She notes that he isn’t wearing a proper shirt under his blazer, either. It’s a shirt almost as as bright as his hair with a large, red star on it. It’s almost as if he wants to go out of his way to show that he doesn’t give a shit about the dress code. He’s got an aggressive look in his eye as he walks up closer to her, though it’s lessened by the fact that he has to look up at her. “What do you want? You gonna rat me out to Kamoshida?”

Her eyes narrow, a bit sick of people just immediately being aggressive to her. It makes her defensive right from the get-go. “I don’t even know who you’re referring to.”

One of his eyebrows raise and he blinks at her a few times. “Huh? That guy you were just talkin’ to. I saw him offer ya a ride. That’s Kamoshida.”

So, that guy was named Kamoshida, huh? She was going to have to remember that name. She’s not really liking how this guy was getting all aggressive at her, but he seemed to confirm her bad feeling about the guy in the car. She’s glad that she’d trusted her gut, but still feels bad she hadn’t stopped the other girl. Her eyes flick to the boy as he continues, his voice going low and hateful. “Does whatever the hell he wants… Like he’s the fuckin’ king of the castle or somethin’. Don’t ya think so? Ya see it, right?”

She squints at him. Her phone beeps quietly. She ignores it. That dumb app is probably still on the screen and she doesn’t have time for it right now. “What are you talking about?”

He rests a hand on his hip, cocking his head at her. He looks her outfit over quickly. She finds herself subconsciously adjusting her skirt a bit. “Wait, are you for real? You seriously don’t know know who Kamoshida is? You _do_ go to Shujin, right? Yeah, see? You have our uniform. You gotta know who he is.”

“I’m a transfer student. This is my first day here. So, I don’t know anything about ‘Kamoshida’ or whatever you’re talking about. If you’re talking about that creep in the car, I’ve never met him before.” Sakura replies with a sigh, crossing her hands over her chest.

“Oh. I guess that would explain why I didn’t think I’d seen ya around. Think I would have remembered ya. You’re, like… bigger than any of the chicks I’ve seen around school... Makes ya kinda stand out.”

“Excuse _me_. Says the guy with the _dyed hair_.”

He actually grins and laughs a little bit at that, bringing his hand up to ruffle his hair.

“Heh! Fair enough. Sorry about before. That bastard just… really pisses me off.” He replies with a sigh. She’s unsure exactly why, but she finds herself smiling a bit at his response. Now that he isn’t being actively confrontational, she could admit he seemed like an alright sort. Had a nice smile, at least. The blonde glances out at the rain before looking back to her. “Anyway. Looks like the rain’s let up some. Probably the best we’re gonna get. You, uh.. wanna come with? If you wanna get to the school quicker, I kinda know a shortcut that saves havin’ to go all the way around this street.”

Sakura hums thoughtfully. “Hmmm... Alright. But, I should probably know your name before I go running off with you.”

“Oh, yeah.” He replies, starting to walk down the street. Little speckles of rain patter down onto him, but he doesn’t look like he’s getting too awful soaked. So, Sakura follows along behind him. She doesn’t really have anything to lose. He doesn’t give off that same vibe of ‘stay away’ that Kamoshida did. Even the attitude before had mostly just seemed to stem from frustration. Besides, his… hair is really awesome. You’ve got to be pretty brave to go with hair that loud in public. “I’m Ryuji Sakamoto. Second year.”

“Sakura Kurusu. Same.”

“Really? Sweet, maybe we're in the same class- Ngh...” He starts to say, only to stop in the middle of the sidewalk and hold a hand to his temple.

Sakura would ask him what’s wrong, but she’s feeling something very similar. One moment she was walking down the street behind him, the next she was feeling an intense wave of nausea rolling through her. Bringing a hand up to rub her temple only makes it worse, drawing a nasty headache to the front of her brain. The world briefly blurs in front of her. She almost throws up the entire plate of curry she ate onto the ground. But, just as suddenly as it started, it’s over. She blinks slowly in confusion. What the hell was that?

Ryuji is still rubbing his temple. “Ugh… My head hurts. Man, I wanna go home...” He complains as he shoves his hands into his pockets and continues walking. His voice drops to a mutter. “Ma’ll look at me all sad if I skip again, though… Jeez. What a pain.”

The blonde makes a quick turn into an alleyway after a little bit more walking. The prior rain has puddles splashing under their steps. She makes sure to follow him carefully, as she doesn’t really know these streets too well. And, she’d rather not get left behind and lost, if she can help it. As she’s walking, she starts to feel… a strange unease. Like something’s not quite right. The world seems to have gone silent, save for their steps. Almost as if nothing exists except them. She chews her bottom lip, starting to slow herself down a bit. She looks around the alleyway and becomes concerned when she notices the finer details starting to blur a bit. “Sakamoto-san...” She starts to say in warning.

“What the _hell_?”

As she walks up to the exit of the alleyway, she comes to stand next to a dumbstruck Ryuji. She follows his line of sight and gasps sharply at what she finds.

A tall, ominous castle stands just in front of them. And, it’s not just like some theme-park, cheap knockoff, either. It looks like a proper, stone castle one might have stumbled across in the Middle Ages. A grand structure, opulent and imperial, standing starkly over the purple, dreamlike haze the rest of the world seems to have taken around them. Shujin Academy’s gates stand just before it, heavy chains connecting an enormous drawbridge to the castle proper. Sakura doesn’t know if she’s ever felt a presence more ominous than the one she feels right now. She slips her glasses off her nose to gently clean them, then put them back on. Nope, still seeing a castle. She turns to Ryuji. “So, ah… this isn’t Shujin.”

“But, I…! No, we didn’t take a wrong turn or anything. Went the same way I always do. This should be Shujin Academy. I’ve gone this way a hundred times and it’s never _once_ led to a castle. What’s goin’ on, here, anyway?” Ryuji mutters, clearly as confused as she is. He scratches his head a little bit and takes a slow look around. “Guess we better check it out. Maybe they’re pullin’ a prank on us or somethin’.”

Sakura’s not sure she can believe that the school could arrange this in one day. She’d been here _yesterday_ and hadn’t seen anything like this. And, if this is the school, where are the students? Surely they should be milling around and looking just as confused as them. She takes a peek over her shoulder and finds that the alleyway has seemed to grow a duller color. Still there, but seemingly devoid of any life. She swallows thickly. “I dunno… This seems… like a lot for just a prank.”

“Guess we won’t know until we see it for ourselves. C’mon. I think we can get in through that drawbridge thingy.”

She hesitantly follows the blonde as he walks up and onto the drawbridge. Her eyes continue to sweep over their surroundings, not quite trusting that they’re not in danger. Something is very wrong here. And, she’s not going to calm down until she knows what it is.

As they wander inside, they come to a large, elaborate foyer. A luxurious, crimson rug runs down the entirety of the room, splitting off in two to go up a short pair of stairs. The floors are checkered black and white, immaculately cleaned and shining with polish. Elaborately designed pillars shoot up from the structures of the walls all the way to the ceiling, where shimmering, shining chandeliers with lit candles hang. There’s no artificial light anywhere, everything seeming to be illuminated by the fire of the candles or the purplish light filtering in through stained-glass windows.

Ryuji opens his mouth, then closes it again. He clearly doesn’t know what to say and, honestly, she can’t blame him. Sakura speaks up as she walks closer to him, shoes clicking on the floors. “Sure we didn’t make a wrong turn, somewhere? I really don’t think this is the school, Sakamato-san. I know it had Shujin’s gates and all, but...”

He shakes his head, waving her words off with his hand. He reaches into his pocket for his phone. He fumbles with it a little bit as he swipes his lock screen open. “Nah, you’ll see. I’ll show you, we- _What_? No service? What the hell? What’s going on here?!”

There’s the sound of loud footsteps to their left, making both of them jump. Sakura’s sanity is, once again, put into question as a person in a full suit of fucking _armor_ walks up to them. It’s not like any suit of armor she’s seen in books or movies. The whole suit glints a dark, malevolent grey in color, armor clanking heavily with each step. An emotionless mask of a human face completely obscures the shadowy bits that seem to hide behind it and underneath the helmet. The sword and shield it carries both look large and heavy. She feels her heart sink down into her stomach as it clomps closer, bigger than the both of them.

“Whoa! Jeez, man, you freaked me out. Give a guy some warning, wouldja?” Ryuji says aloud, not even bothering to remove his hands from his pockets. He doesn’t seem to sense the same sinister aura coming from that suit of armor that she does. He continues, even walking up to the thing and lightly wrapping his knuckles on the shield. “You a student or somethin’? Whoa, where’d you get a costume like this? Almost looks real.”

“Um, I don’t think that’s wise-”

Sakura hears more clanking from another area of the room. Another suit of armor aggressively moves toward them. It’s about this time that Ryuji starts to pick up on the fact that this is all beginning to seem pretty frightening. As, he gulps and takes a few steps back. Both of the knights grip their swords tight and continue their march toward the two students. “I...Y-You know, I don’t think these guys are just playin’ around… Run for it!”

“Way ahead of you!” Sakura squeaks out as she immediately turns to run… only to smack into the shield of another suit of armor. It aggressively knocks her onto her ass with a grunt. Her head flits around as she notices that they’re now completely surrounded by these shadowy knights. Where had they all come from? It’s like they just appeared out of thin air! She crawls desperately backwards to get away, but the knight easily keeps up with her. Ryuji seems to get a similar treatment, albeit in the form of the blunt of a shield right across his back. He falls to his hands and knees and groans in pain.

“Stop it! You’re gonna break my bones, dammit! What are you people doin’?!” He cries out as he looks wildly around.

Sakura’s eyes widen as she sees the knight standing over Ryuji raise the pommel of it’s sword. She makes a motion to jump to her feet, to try and get him out of the way if she can.

A flash of pain sparks through the back of her head. It completely stops her forward motion dead still, forcing the girl fall to her knees. She sways in confusion as blurriness slides into her vision. The room was… spinning… why was the room spinning? The last thing she sees is Ryuji’s face looking at her in shock and horror. She feels consciousness slip away as her eyes roll up into her head, her body hitting the ground hard as she passes out.


	6. I Am Thou

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arsene is going to be treated pretty differently in this story. I have a few ideas in mind for how that will be elaborated on later!

_Hey, man!_

_You alright?_

_C’mon, please don’t be dead!_

_Wake up!_

Sakura groans as she slowly starts to wake. The pain in the back of her head throbs hotly, her hand going up to gently rub at it. Her blue eyes flick over to find Ryuji looking at her with a very worried expression. He seems to brighten up just a touch when he notices she’s stirring, immediately coming a little closer. “Holy shit. You’re awake! I was worried they really messed you up. How’re ya feelin’?”

“Nghhh… Like sunshine and flowers. What do _you_ think?” She answers dully, gingerly sitting up and groaning once more in pain. She’s not going to be able to stand just yet. Still too dizzy. “Where are we, now? Some sort of jail or something?”

“Dunno. They threw me in here with you and haven’t come by since. Since they actually touched us and we’re both sitting here, I guess we can give up on this bein’ a dream, huh? Hit way too hard for it to be a big prank, either… Dammit, where _are_ we?” Ryuji asks aloud with a growl. He gets up and starts pacing around their cell.

While he’s doing that, Sakura takes a moment to look around. She didn’t think that something could look less uncomfortable than the jail cell in her hometown _or_ the Velvet Room in that strange dream she had. But, this place is really doing it’s best to top them. The stone around them is in a state of disrepair, as if this little cell was left to rot with whatever prisoners it held. The air is thick and humid with a damp, musty smell to it. The bed she’s sitting on is less of a bed and more of a hard, stone tablet sticking out of the wall. There’s chains and shackles hanging from the walls, unused for now. And, she’d shudder to think of the kind of suffering they could help commit. As suspected, there’s no way out. Nothing they could exploit or move to make it happen. They’re trapped like rats. After making her uncomfortable observations, she feels well enough to actually stand up. Ryuji has walked over to the door and started to rattle at it.

“Rgh! No use. Thing’s locked tight and it ain’t budgin’.” He grunts, then beginning to bang on the cell door in frustration. “Hey! I know you’re out there! Why are we here, anyway? Let us out now!"

Nobody comes. Ryuji’s voice just echos emptily through the hallway.

That is, until a tortured scream answers him. Then another, begging for mercy.

A chill runs down Sakura’s spine. It sounds like it’s being ripped raw from someone’s throat. The agony is practically dripping from it. It echoes down the hallway, lingering long after the scream has stopped. She finds herself trembling as she joins Ryuji at the door. The pure terror in Ryuji’s eyes when their gazes meet is almost palpable. Her own voice drops down to a whisper. “Sounds like they’re torturing someone else.”

“Shit, man, this isn’t funny! I get the feeling we’re next, if we don’t find a way outta here… There’s gotta be a way!”

Sakura shakes her head. “Th-There’s nothing. I already looked around. It may look decrepit, but it’s sealed down tight. Whoever put us in here doesn’t want a chance of their prisoners escaping-”

She freezes when she hears the familiar sound of armored feet clanking down the hallway. She sees their eyes before she actually sees them, the red piercing through the dim light down the hallway. She gasps quietly and steps back. Ryuji curses under his breath and backs up with her. “These assholes, again...”

The knight comes right up to the cell door and looks between them. It carries a little scroll with it, unraveling it down a little in front of it. The red, glowing eyes read down the parchment, then lower it slowly. “You’re lucky that your punishment has already been decided upon, peasants. You’ve been charged with ‘unlawful entry’. So, your sentence will be death.”

“ _What_?!” Sakura blurts out, Ryuji echoing her sentiment next to her. “How were we supposed to know? There weren’t any signs keeping us out! Your door was wide open!”

“Don’t you know? No one’s allowed to do as they please in _my_ castle.” A familiar-sounding voice speaks up, full of superiority and mirth. She can’t remember exactly where to place it. It might be due to the fact that she’s panicking pretty hard right now. These guys couldn’t just kill them, right? There was no way… That was wrong on _so_ many levels!

A figure steps out of the back of the wall of knights, candlelight slowly coming to illuminate the face of that creep from the car. Kamoshida, she remembers Ryuji calling him. But, something’s very different about him. Very wrong. The first thing would have to be the fact that he appears to be completely naked, save for a pink speedo and an obnoxiously bright cloak with pink hearts all over it. It’s probably the ugliest ensemble of garments she’s ever seen. The golden crown on his head matches the color of his glowing eyes. A sinister, sick grin appears on his lips as he looks right at Ryuji. “I thought the people who invaded my castle would be some petty thieves… But, to think it’d be _you,_ Sakamoto.”

Ryuji looks dumbstruck. Sakura can’t say she’s too far off with that. “Kamoshida..? What the hell..”

“Looks like you’re trying to disobey me, _again_. You really haven’t learned your lesson at all, have you?” Kamoshida grins wider, shaking his head and tutting like he was talking to a child. His golden eyes slowly slide over to Sakura. His gaze stays on her longer. It feels like the look he took earlier, but much more telling in what it’s purpose is. The golden orbs linger on her chest, then fall down to the crotch of her skirt with a sick amount of interest. It makes her want to crawl out of her own skin. “And, you brought along a little girlfriend, too. Because you can’t do a single thing by yourself. Wonder if she only came along because she doesn’t know what a _real_ man looks like.”

Ryuji snarls, anger at Kamoshoda seeming to briefly override his fear of the situation. “Leave her out of this, you asshole!”

Kamoshida’s face darkens. That golden gaze slips back over to Ryuji, stormy with annoyance. “Insolent little whelp. Is that how you _dare_ to speak to your king? It seems that you don’t understand what your position is, even now! You dared to sneak into my castle... And, you dared to insult the king to his face? That is a crime of the highest order, Sakamoto.”

His eyes narrow, nose wrinkling up in disdain. “The punishment for that is death. And, your execution has been a _long_ time coming. Get him.”

Ryuji starts to slowly step back as the knights begin to filter into the cell, large and imposing. Kamoshida stands just outside the cell and casually watches as his minions corner the blonde. He doesn’t go down easily, though, and succeeds in lunging forward to tackle one of the knights to the ground with his shoulder. His eyes dart desperately up to Sakura. “I’m not down for this shit! Hurry, let’s get out of- Unnf!”

Before he can get much farther than the middle of the cell, one of the knights has stepped in to land a cruel punch right to his stomach. The blonde doubles over in pain and falls to his knees. He begins coughing for breath, the sound of his haggard breathing making Sakura growl and try to rush forward. The knights immediately block her and push her back. Ryuji, however, seems to be prioritizing her escape above all else. As, he forces his voice up past his throat with immense effort and emotion. “ _Just go! Get outta here! These guys a_ _i_ _n’t messin’ around!_ ”

That draws an amused laugh out of the slimy king. His eyes are on her again, watching as the knights that blocked her now start to turn their swords on her. He steps into the cell with a grin, as amused as can be. “Oh? You’d run away? What a spineless girlfriend you’ve got there, Sakamoto.”

“She ain’t got nothin’ to do with this! Hey, you gotta move! Get away from him!” Ryuji screams, trying to get up. A pair of knights rush in to hold him, smashing his face hard into the floor. He growls and squirms in the hold until an armored fist collides with the side of his head. It sends him reeling, again, left panting on the floor under the weight of the knights.

Kamoshida strolls right up to her with a sneer, giving her a hard shove into the wall. She grunts in pain as her head cracks against the stone wall, her short hair soon gripped in a fist and yanked down to his level. He tilts her head painfully to the side, bringing his mouth right up to her ear. His free hand slithers down to cup between her legs. “You know, I might give your boyfriend a stay of execution if you do something for me. It’s a fair trade, I think. Your body for his life, huh? What do you say? Bet you’ll even love it by the end-”

“ _Let go of me!_ ” With all the strength she can muster in her muscles, she brings her elbow around to smash into his side. When he recoils in pain, she scrambles a long leg up to knee him right in the gut. It causes him to relinquish his hold on her hair and stumble back in surprise, in turn allowing her to her to bring a leg up to kick flat into his chest. It’s messy, sloppy, and completely off, but all her instincts are kicking into overdrive right now. Anything she can do to get away is viable. Unfortunately, the guards are immediately coming in to protect their master. And, there’s not a lot she can do with hands and feet against knights in full armor.

She struggles desperately as a two knights each take an arm and pin her to the wall. Kamoshida storms back in and lands a strike right to her gut. Pained breath shoots out of her and she slumps against the hold of the knights. “You _bitch!_ As if you had any other option! Nobody says ‘no’ to the king!”

She glares at him past her glasses and messy bangs, puffing breaths out of her mouth. This makes him growl and lean in closer. A single hand comes up to roughly grab her by the chin, his thumb sinking hard into her cheek. “That face of yours really pisses me off-”

“ _You.. coward…!_ ”

Kamoshida stops, slowly baring his teeth as he turns around. Ryuji is still being held on the ground. Even through her sweat-blurred glasses, she can see how terrified the blonde is. But, he still spoke up despite it all. Despite knowing that the attention would be on him, now. “What was that, Sakamoto?”

“Beatin’ on a helpless girl while two guys are holdin’ her must make ya feel real big. Ngh. All good for you when people just don’t fight back, right?” The blonde spits out.

The man snarls, ordering the knights holding Ryuji to get him to his feet. What follows makes Sakura sick to her stomach. She is forced to watch and struggle as Kamoshida, a full grown man, casually beats the shit out of the blonde boy. Punches across the face. Punches to the gut. Kicks. Hateful, torturous punishment. By the time he’s finally done, Ryuji can’t even keep on his feet. The knights let him go and he slumps against the king, sliding down his body and onto the floor. The man spits on his prone form. “Not even worth beating. Filthy peasant. Eliminate him. Then, I’ll deal with the girl.”

She can see the tears running down Ryuji’s cheeks as one of Kamoshida’s minions clomps up to him. She struggles against the knights holding her back, wishing she could do _something_. But, she can’t… there’s nothing she can do… Nothing she could have ever done.

The world seems to freeze around her. Kamoshida in mid grin. The knight grabbing Ryuji by his collar. All of it has stopped, just like in Shibuya. All she can hear is the sound of her own breathing as she looks around in confusion. A blue butterfly slowly drifts into her vision, a gentle voice filling her mind as she stares at it. It’s so bright and beautiful compared to the dingy, horrific cell she’s found herself in. She could almost cry.

_This is truly an unjust game. Your chances of winning are almost none._

_But, if my voice is reaching you… there may yet be a possibility open to you._

The atmosphere of the world suddenly changes as things come back into motion. It darkens and distorts. Power seems to crackle through the air around her. Her heart starts beating, faster and faster until she can barely stand it. Sakura’s head whips up as she hears a voice begin to speak to her. It’s smooth and feminine, sounding a bit like her own voice with a bit more class to it. It sounds almost irritated by her lack of mobility. Prodding her with it’s words.

_**...What’s the matter? Are you just going to watch?** _

_**Would you let his noble sacrifice be in vain?** _

_**Death awaits him if you do nothing.** _

The voice is low, critical, angry. It seethes at the injustice of it all. It’s hungry for vengeance. Wants to tear through the bodies of these knights. Send them to oblivion for daring to keep Sakura held down. She squirms harder against the knights, gritting her teeth as the voice continues to boom through her mind. “N-No, I..” She gasps out.

_**Was your previous decision a mistake, then?** _

“It wasn’t a _mistake_! I’d do it all over again if I could save her!” She yells, her struggle intensifying. Her voice is loud, echoing through the small cell. All eyes turn to her. Kamoshida’s eyebrows narrow suspiciously at her, but he ultimately ignores her in favor of having the knight lift Ryuji up to prepare for his execution.

_**Heh… No need for mere words, girl. Show me your true feelings!** _

Sakura’s eyes fix themselves right on Ryuji. She can feel the same desire to help as that night. The same one that had ruined her life. But, she had _known_ it was the right thing to do. He had jumped in to take the bullet for her. Taken a beating for her. What kind of _person_ would she be, if she allowed him to die after all that? She had to help him! Even if it ruined everything she was working toward, she could never stand by and let someone be hurt!

_**Very well. I have heeded your resolve.** _

Her eyes bulge as a sudden burst of agony bolts through her skull. A white-hot, intense pain that spreads all over her brain, lighting every synapse on fire on it’s path through. It’s short, but it’s the most horrible pain she’s ever experienced in her life. It knocks the breath right out of her. Her body slumps against the wall, heart hammering in her chest as she pants for any sort of breath. There’s no reprieve granted, however, as the pain is immediately back. Somehow, it returns even more intense than before. And, this time, it _stays_. It stays and it _spreads_.

“ _Aghhh!_ ” Her back arches as a scream tears it’s way out of her throat. She can’t even _think_. The pain is almost _blinding_. _Unbearable._ Tears are pouring out of her eyes, mouth unable to do anything more than scream and salivate. Every limb writhes against the hold of the knights, feeling like every nerve in her body is being lit on fire. Like millions upon millions of searing needles are being pierced through her body down to her very bones. Honestly, if they weren’t holding her, she might dropped right to the ground in a heap. Her head shakes from side to side on it's own, as if trying to escape from the agonizing pain scorching every cell of her brain. Another scream forces her eyes open as each iris starts to slowly be swallowed up by gold.

_**Then, vow to me.** _

_**I am thou… Thou art I.** _

_**Thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice!** _

It only grows more intense with every word the voice speaks. Each statement feels like a spike is being driven through her skull, only adding to the mess of agony her brain already is. It’s like her skull is about to split open, pressure building and building as it becomes impossible to stand. She can barely see, gasping and panting as the gold finally finishes it's journey around each iris. "Hahhh.. nghh..."

_**Call upon my name and release thy rage!** _

The last burst of pain seizes her entire body up stiffly. Her scream is loud enough that the entire world could have heard it, if they were here. The pressure builds and builds and builds… until something _snaps_ inside her. The pain evaporates into nothingness. Her mind becomes more clear than it ever has been. She feels power like she’s never felt before flowing through her body. Any fear that was felt during their prior struggles is gone. There’s only the desire for justice. The desire to protect. She’s _pissed_.

_**Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!** _

“I’ve had enough of playing around with you, Sakamoto. Kill him now.” Kamoshida grunts, standing around with his arms crossed imposingly. Lips draw up into a pleased sneer as the knight holding Ryuji to the wall slowly raises it’s sword. The blonde has closed his eyes, looking away from his incoming death…

“ _I will stop you._ ”

The king slowly turns back to face Sakura. His bushy eyebrows raise at the heat of her glare. The man almost seems surprised she spoke up, having dealt with her pretty effectively before. Sick of these brats interrupting each other’s demises, he seemingly decides that this most recent interruption will be the last. “I was going to save you for later, girl. But, you’re really starting to piss me off with all this resisting shit. If you desire to die so badly… I’ll give it to you.”

One of the knights clanks up to turn it’s attention on her, slamming it’s shield into her face. She barely feels it in comparison to what she just went through. Her glasses go skittering across the stone floor. Breaths slowly pant from her mouth as the one who hit her raises a sword to end her life. Her wide eyes, now flickering between blue and gold, snap up to stare it down. A horrible gale of wind fills the cell, gusting from the tall girl and forcing a few of the other knights to take a few steps back. The guards holding her have to drop their hold in order to not be directly blown away.

As Sakura lands on her feet, she feels an oppressive weight form over her eyes. It feels wrong and constricting. Too hot against her skin. When her hands raise up to touch it, she realizes it’s some manner of mask sealed against her face. Her fingers wrap around what she can get them on and she gives it a hard tug. The mask doesn’t budge. It hurts like hell. When she pulls at it, it feels like she’s tearing at the skin of her own face. But, the instinct is there. She has to get this thing _off_!

“Agh… nghh… _Ahhh_!” Her teeth gnash together and her nails dig hard into the mask. Putting as much force into the pull as possible, she gives another rough yank. The mask tears and pulls flesh right up with it. Hot, sticky blood fills her vision as it pours from the enormous wound, sliding down her face in hot trails. But, as much pain as she _should_ be in, she’s never felt so _alive_.

Sakura finds a wild grin sliding across her lips. Her blue eyes have finally stayed completely golden. Azure fire bursts from her blood, first covering the wound, then swirling around until it encompasses her whole body. The sound of malevolent laughing fills the air, the same feminine voice from before getting louder and louder. As the fire rises up from her body, it begins to take the form she saw in Shibuya two days ago. The body of blue flames, the orange, sadistic smile, the spread of wings… Another burst of fire rolls off her body and chains fly up into the air from it. The figure takes it’s true form.

A tall, impossibly spindly figure cloaked in red and black. Dressed, fashionably, in a tall hat and a smart, red suit with a black corset. The picture of a lady thief, if you will. Well, save for the rather demonic parts of her. The fiery grin still stretches across her face, mask long and flowing like the azure flames that had birthed her. Feathered, black wings burst from her back and rattle her chains. There’s something distinctly inhuman about the way she moves and floats around, as well. Sakura can feel the figure’s excitement to be free as her own.

The others seem dumbfounded as the form laughs and stretches her wings out. She can see Ryuji laying back against a wall, his eyes wide in awe. “W-What the fuck…?”

The demonic woman floats around her, the chains that bind her to Sakura keeping her close. Drifting close enough to lay her hands on Sakura’s shoulders, she’s able to speak in a manner that doesn’t send her voice booming through the girl’s mind anymore. It’s certainly strange to be speaking with something that doesn’t have a typical human face. “ _Mmn. Finally_ _free..._ _I am the pillager of twilight, Arsene. The rebel’s heart that resides within you!”_

Sakura grins. Her rebel heart? She likes the sound of that. “Arsene, huh?”

Arsene seems to enjoy both her grin and the sound of her own name on Sakura’s lips. A low laugh trickles out of her fiery mouth in response to it. “ _Indeed. If you so desire, madame, I shall consider granting you the power to break through this… dire crisis.”_

Sakura nods her head, clenching a hand outward. “Lend me your power.”

“ _Hmmm… Very well._ ” Arsene replies, sounding quite delighted at Sakura’s response. Maybe it’s because she finally gets to enact some justice. She’s certainly eyeing up Kamoshida with a big enough grin for it. “ _My, what have we here? A little weasel in a plastic crown?_ ”

Kamoshida has stepped well away from where the blue flames had been pouring off Sakura’s body. The man's face has darkened at the insolence of this girl. His teeth grind together as he points toward Sakura. Several guards rush in behind him to take up defensive positions. “What the hell are you supposed to be? Guards! Kill that one, _now_! Show them your strength!”

The knights charge forward, swiftly losing solid form and splattering into a pool of dark, black goo. After a moment too quick to perceive, new forms burst out of the tar-like substance. They appear to be flying jack o’lanterns, armed with small lights and dressed up like witches. To think that those big, terrifying guards would just be these little things all along... It almost makes her laugh. Arsene seems to find it just as amusing. “ _Oh, dear. We seem to be surrounded… It appears we will have to show them the error of their ways.”_

Arsene flies back, arching her wings and spreading the feathers out wide. “ _My power is yours to command, my lady! Kill them! Kill them however you wish! Run wild to your heart’s content!_ ”

Magical words come to her mind like she had known them all along. The weight of a knife seems to appear in her hand. Sakura is ready to attack. Ready to _fight_. Everything she needs to start is right here. She takes a long, quick stride toward the first jack o’lantern and leaps up to plunge her new knife right into it’s face. It feels as natural as jumping up to spike a ball. Like she’d done it a hundred times before. The strength she used was probably a little unnecessary, considering the beast blasts into grey dust as it’s struck. She whirls around as the other opponent flies towards her aggressively. Sakura’s hand is cast out and the strange words spill off her tongue. “Arsene, Eiha!”

“ _At once!_ ” The entity calls out, casting her own arm out in much the same fashion as Sakura had. A long beam of black and crimson howls from Arsene’s hand. It smashes into the strange jack o’lantern with an immense force. The monster cries out sharply, the blacks and reds swirling around it’s body until it joins it’s partner in the dust on the floor. The battle was quick, decisive, and over before it even started.

Panting and full of adrenaline, her gaze shifts to Ryuji. He looks a mix of terrified and in awe. His eyes look her up and down as if seeing her for the first time. She’ll admit that the battle and imminent danger hadn’t really let her get a good look at herself, either. With a questioning sound, she looks over herself a bit. Her school uniform has completely vanished. Replacing it is a long, black tailcoat that brushes along her ankles. What was formerly her blouse is now a high-necked, black waistcoat, a pair of tight, striped black and grey pants to go with it. The most striking bits of her attire are her bright red gloves and crimson boots. The boots go up to, at least, the top of her shins and have a heel that somehow makes her taller. A black and white, pointed mask obscures the top half of her face, the lower half bare aside from some black lipstick on her lips. “Damn, I’m handsome as fuck...”

“ _As you always have been, my lady._ ” Arsene’s voice whispers through her mind. “ _This_ _form of you has always existed_ _. Just hidden away_ _and waiting for_ _thy will_ _to find it_ _._ ”

Ryuji doesn’t seem to have heard the voice as Sakura had, because he’s soon speaking up in a bit of a daze. “I mean, I guess, but… What was that, just now-”

Both their heads shoot to their side as Kamoshida storms up to them with fury in his eyes. “You little- _Agh_!”

Sakura blinks as Ryuji finds the strength in his body to leap up and charge Kamoshida. He meets him halfway there, giving the king a nasty shoulder check that sends him spilling to the ground. That seems to reinvigorate the blonde enough to give a little hop and a grin. “Ha! How do ya like that, ya sonuva bitch?!”

As she sees Kamoshida groaning in pain and starting to get up, she sees their chance to get out of here. A key is laying on the stone floor, presumably from Ryuji knocking him to the ground. She… doesn’t want to know where he was hiding that key. She shakes her head and returns to focus. There’s no guards left to block the cell, either! “Sakamoto-san! The key!” She urges as she books it toward the door, tailcoat fluttering behind her.

His eyes widen and he nods quickly, scooping up the key and following her out. They both quickly slam the door shut. Ryuji jams the key into the lock, turning it with a hard click. “There! It’s locked tight!” He says with a grin. They both watch as Kamoshida rises from the ground in a rage and bangs on the cell door.

“Damn you! Damn you both!”  
  
The blonde ignores him, instead turning his full attention to Sakura. “Seriously, though, what was that? Your clothes got all… different and-”

The azure fire swirls around her again. She blinks a few times as she looks down to find herself back in her school uniform. Any remnant of the waistcoat or the anything else she’d been wearing has completely vanished. “What the… They’re gone?” She mumbles, running her hands over her blazer a few times. It doesn’t seem to bring her prior outfit back. She’d admit, she kinda missed them already.

Quietly, she asks out into the air. “Arsene?”

She feels an immense amount of relief when she hears the voice speak up, though sounding a touch fainter than she had been before. “ _I am here._ _Your_ _powers are in fluctuation_ _._ _Unstable._ _Expected, for one who has only just awoken to_ _a power such as yours_ _.”_

“I see...” Sakura murmurs, slowly tapping a finger to her lip in consideration.

Ryuji looks even more confused. “Dude, what are you talking about?”

“Would you shut the hell up, you _bastards_?! You goddamn _thieves_ really think you can do this to the king?! Guards! _Guards_!” Kamoshida’s words make them both jump as he yells and rattles the cell door. It’s making a ton of noise, promising the arrival of more guards to their location. They don’t really have a lot of room to make an escape if they got surrounded again. The walkways are thin enough for only a couple of people to walk at a time, the long hallway cut in half by what looks to be a canal of some sort.

The blonde boy turns to her. “Let’s get out of here, man! I don’t wanna be around when more of those guys come! You lead the way, I’ll follow behind!”

Sakura nods and begins hurrying down the path. She hears Ryuji grunt, followed by the light splash of the key landing in the water. She can’t help but grin at that. She bets that felt pretty satisfying.

No time for that, though. They’ve got to get out of here.. and, quick.


	7. Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, Kitty makes three!

It felt like they were getting nowhere fast. They’d run down a few similar-looking hallways and only come to doors locked tightly to bar them from escape. At one point, they’d needed to hop across the canal on a few abandoned cages sticking up from the water. That had been a pretty… harrowing moment for them. The water of the canal was flowing in a strong current, so if they were to slip and fall in… they would surely be carried away. The fact that they rattled and shook as soon as they landed didn’t really help matters. This only led to another long stretch more cells, the same thing repeated over and over.

After coming to another locked gate, Sakura can’t help but groan. “Seriously? This place is like a maze. How are we ever going to find the exit like this?”

Taking a step back, her eyes glance to a cell next to them with a haphazardly open door. Almost like the occupants had been swiftly removed. Ryuji follows her eyes and gives a peek inside. “Oh, hey! There’s a hole in the wall over here. Maybe we can get through there?”

They walk into the cell and Sakura scrutinizes the hole carefully. It look like it’s going to be quite a tight fit. Not nearly wide enough for them both to fit through at the same time. Her nose wrinkles up at the idea of crawling on her hands and knees through the dark, leaky tunnel of a prison wall, but they’re pretty much out of options for anything else here. If they waste too much time, there’s a higher and higher chance that the guards will find them. Dark, leaky tunnel it is, then. “Ugh… Looks like we don’t have much of a choice… C’mon, follow me.”

“ _Being a lady thief often requires one to_ _squeeze oneself_ _into tight spaces._ ”

“Shut up, Arsene.”

The moment she gets stoops down, she instantly regrets it. As, her hand splashes into some sort of filthy puddle the moment she slips into the puddle. Because, of course it does. She got beat up again, had to go through the intense pain to summon Arsene earlier, and now she’s going to be filthy from crawling through a wall hole. Nasty, medieval filth… all over her new uniform. She can already feel the dampness soaking through the knees of her tights.

Suppressing a groan, she continues shimmying her way slowly through the hole. She can hear Ryuji shuffle in, start to mutter about his bag getting stuck, then go very quiet for the rest of the crawl. The last little bit sees the ceiling collapse a bit, requiring her to go down on her stomach and worm her way through the opening. Her fingers scrabble at the floor in the next cell over, a grunt passing through her lips as she pulls herself out of the hole. “Dammit, this was a new uniform. They’re gonna murder me for this.”

She hears Ryuji pull himself out of the hole and turns to face him after brushing herself off. “Don’t know where this took us, but at least we put some distance between us and- You okay?”

The blonde’s cheeks are pretty red, blush even going to his ears, and he avoids looking her in the eye. “Y-Yeah! Totally fine. Noooo problem here. Who’s got a problem?”

She raises her eyebrow, then shrugs it off. Her mind’s too focused on trying to find a way out to deal with… whatever his issue is. “Look, just keep your head in the game. I don’t know if I’ll be able to fight back like last time, so we can’t waste this chance.”

That seems to sober him up. He nods in the affirmative and offers her a determined smile. “Gotcha. You keep leading. I’ll make sure to look out for those weird knight assholes.”

After leaving the cell, and walking into another long stretch of yet _more_ cells, they cross a drawbridge across the canal onto another track. They have to duck behind some stray barrels as a squad of the shadowy knights rushes past on the opposite side of the canal. They seem wound-up and on high alert. They’d obviously pissed Kamoshida off quite a bit by locking him in one of his own jail cells. After the enemies pass by, she runs to the very end of the path and catches a flight of stairs leading upward. “Sakamoto-san, look! Stairs!”

“Alright!” He cheers, running up beside her and sounding just a little winded. She’d really like to stop and take a break for his sake, seeing as Ryuji got the piss beaten out of him, but she doesn’t think they’ll have the time to do it. She just hopes he’ll be okay to continue. They’re in this together, now, after all. “Think these lead to the exit? They gotta! It’s goin’ up, right? Dungeons are like... in the basement. Sooo...”

She grins and punches him lightly in the shoulder. “Heh. I think we’re on to something, here.”

They both run up the stairs, which end up spiraling around a few times over. It’s a tall flight of stairs that neither of them really wanted to run. The large, red door at the very top of them more than makes up for it. There’s the exit. It _has_ to be. As soon as she reaches it, she slams her shoulder into the heavy doors and casts them open to reveal… “Oh, you’ve _got_ to be kidding me.”

A reservoir connected to another canal to the right, another hallway and series of cells to the left. Ryuji groans and slaps a hand to his face. “I feel like we’re never gonna get out of here… What even is this place?!”

Sakura’s really tired of running around this place and finding absolutely nothing. But, there’s really nothing more they can do than follow what open paths they can. Without replying, she takes a turn toward the only path available to them. Like the previous paths they’ve taken, there are cages and cells all around. The only difference with these one is that some of them are filled. People with tight, masks over their faces lay slumped on the floors of cages suspended above the canal. Some are unconscious and others are openly weeping in pain. Ryuji stares at the cages sympathetically as they walk past. “Looks like we ain’t the only ones who got captured...”

“ _Poor souls. Clearly victims_ _of the king’s cruelty_ _, as well._ ” Arsene observes darkly, her voice bristling with anger.

Upon walking all the way to the end of the path, they come upon another locked gate to block them off. This time, there’s no way to just jump across the canal. There was another drawbridge they had passed, but it hadn’t been activated. It didn’t look to have a lever or anything, just a big, stupid statue of Kamoshida. So, that was out as well. Their only option was to go back down the stairs. But, after that, where could they go? They’d followed the only paths that were available! Sakura _very_ much agrees with Ryuji when he mutters out a low, annoyed ‘shit’.

“It’s another dead end… Where are we supposed to go, now?"

Before Sakura can open her mouth to reply, a new, high pitched voice speaks up. “Hey, you two!”

Ryuji looks at her in confusion and scratches his head. “Uhhh… I’m the only one here, man.”

“Wasn’t me...”

“ _Ugh_. No! Blondie! Tall Girl! Look over _here!"_ The voice calls out again, almost _imploring_ them to not be idiots. When Sakura turns toward the direction of the voice, she nearly falls backwards in shock. There’s some manner of small creature locked in the cell. It has a mostly catlike appearance with a few… obvious things that make it stand out. For one, it has a big, round head with what looks to be a black mask over it’s eyes. The aforementioned eyes are incredibly large and a bright blue color. The little creature even appears to be wearing a belt and a bandanna around it’s neck. It almost looks like it’s a walking cartoon. It’s so _odd_ looking. Ryuji seems to agree with her assessment, as even he blurts out a sharp ‘what is that thing’ from her side.

She actually laughs when she recovers from the surprise. Sakura removes her glasses, which must have somehow been recovered from that outfit change earlier somehow. She’s not going to ask, as long as she can see. Magical, reappearing glasses are the last thing on her mind. With her temple bare, she brings a hand up to gently massage it. She’s not sure whether the laugh was out of genuine humor or the fact that she’s losing her mind. Honestly, with all she’s seen and experienced today, she’d have to say that this moment isn’t even the strangest thing that’s happened to her. “Of course! A talking cat thing, too. Why not?”

“’ _Tis a most perplexing creature._ ” Arsene agrees.

The… cat thing looks just a touch offended by that. But, soon it gets a rather desperate expression on it’s face. Almost as if it realizes that arguing this point would do it no good right now. Placing paws onto the door, it speaks in a hushed, pleading voice.

“Look, I... you two aren’t guards for this castle, right? You gotta get me out! Please? The key’s right there!” It asks, one paw gesturing to the wall next to it’s cell. A key hangs on a little hook on the wall next to the cell door. Almost as if it had been put there to taunt the prisoner. “I’ve been trying to reach it for hours, but it’s farther than I can reach through these bars!”

Ryuji speaks up, casting a quick look back down the path. “Dude, we’re trying to find a way outta here. And, you big-time look like one of the enemy. Like those jack o’lantern things. They were all… weird looking like you, too!”

The cat bristles and it’s fur stands on end. “If I was an enemy, why would they have locked me up? That would be stupid! Just help me!”

Sakura plops her glasses back onto her nose, then crosses her arms. She chews her bottom lip as she looks over the creature. She’s conflicted. The cat thing is clearly wanting to get out, but there’s so much risk involved in doing so. Her powers are still unstable, as Arsene had mentioned. If this thing attacks them or triggers something on it’s way out… “Look, I don’t know. We’ve gone through a lot of trouble to get this far. As far as we know, you could be some sort of trap.”

“It’s not! I swear! This is just a plain jail cell!”

Ryuji’s head whips to the side. Sakura hears it, too. The telltale clanking of those knights. He looks to Sakura with a frightened expression. “Dammit, we don’t got time for this… They’re catching up, already!”

He whips out his phone to give it a look over, only to grit his teeth and shake his head. “Still no cell service. We’re straight fucked, man. How are we gonna get out? There’s nothing on the way back!”

An inspection of Sakura’s own phone offers much the same. As much as she hates to say it, this isn’t looking good. She looks back at the canal and gulps quietly. “I suppose we could take our chances with the canal? I mean, we’ll probably end up drowning in the current, but compared to getting captured again… Maybe it’ll work?” She offers without many other options.

“So, drown or get executed. Great. I love this plan.”

The cat’s ears perk up. It smiles a bit. “Hey! You’re looking for the exit, right? Let me out and I’ll take you there no problem! Those guards are coming… If you’re quick about it, we can slip right out from under their noses!”

“ _The creature offers an_ _equal_ _exchange. Freedom for freedom. Quite a fair deal, if it_ _speaks the truth._ ” Arsene comments, sounding intrigued by the proposition. Sakura, herself, hesitates just a little longer. She takes a few steps toward the key before looking back worriedly. “Are you sure? You promise you’ll help us?”

The cat places it’s hand over it’s heart. “I never go back on my word. Especially not to a lady. Do this for me and I’ll do whatever I can to help you guys escape.”

Sakura nods and slips the key off the hook. Ryuji keeps watch, though does take a look back as she stoops down to unlock the cell. The cat thing steps back to give her some space, it’s big eyes watching her intently. The blonde’s own gaze on the cat is cautious and untrusting. “...Man, we better hope this thing ain’t all talk… It’s kinda sounding like it’s tryin’ to blow smoke up our ass.”

As soon as the door creaks open, the cat is moving out onto the path. It skips out and breathes a heavy sigh of relief, taking a moment to stretch it’s little limbs. “Ahhh… Freedom tastes… a bit like musty castle air, honestly. But, better than that cell!”

Ryuji glances back. “Alright, we helped you. Where’s the exit, ya monster cat?”

The cat makes a frustrated sound and shakes it’s head. Sakura tilts her head. Is it… pouting, now, is that what’s happening? It’s even stamping it’s little foot. It ends up looking more adorable than anything. “I’m not a cat, you big oaf! My name is _Morgana_.”

“Mor… What-a? Who cares about all that right now? Just show us the way out! Or, you wanna get thrown back in the slammer, kitty?”

“N-No! Don’t do that! Jeez!” Morgana replies after taking a fearful look back to the cell. It winces. Sakura has to wonder if it got the kind of beatings that they did or if Kamoshida mostly left it alone. Either way, she doubts a pleasant experience was had in there. Morgana’s eyes dart along the path with a sharp focus. It takes a little breath. “Okay. Just keep quiet and follow me.”

The cat leads them back to that drawbridge they’d passed earlier, going right up to the Kamoshida statue and starting to feel around. Little pats of paws on the solid stone. Ryuji looks over to Sakura with a raised eyebrow. She just gives a little shrug in response, both of them looking back to Morgana. “Uh… So, gropin’ this creepy statue is gonna get us outta here how? What’re we doin’?”

“What does it look like? I’m trying to lower the drawbridge. It’s _obvious_.” The cat replies, then looking up at the thing’s face. It gestures Sakura toward it with a paw. “Hey, Tall Girl! You seem more aware than our Blondie over here. Check around the mouth of this statue. There should be something there, if I’m guessing right.”

With a nod, she lowers her glasses and steps in for a closer look. At first, it just looks like a stone rendition of Kamoshida’s big, square-shaped face. She grimaces. Even being this close reminded her of the feeling of his breath brushing against her ear. But, after a moment of looking it over, she spots what looks to be a small area inside the mouth that can press inward. Sticking her hand in Kamoshida’s mouth, which is a gross thought, she gives a firm pull on the little mechanism. The result is the statue’s jaw dropping into a wide-open mouth. “...why...”

Thankfully, it leads to something much better than the sense of unease the statue brings her. As, the moment she pulls it down, the drawbridge lowers to give them a way across the canal. Ryuji just rolls his eyes and groans. “Oh, right. Yeah, just pull on the statue’s mouth. ‘Course. How the hell were we supposed to know _that_?”

Morgana rolls their eyes. “Hmph. Total amateur. Come on, let’s not waste time.”

Their run across the bridge is dashed of hope a moment later, when one of the knights comes out of a door near the very end of it. Ryuji stumbles back as he notices them, landing on his ass and scrambling back with a yell. The last time they interacted with these things didn’t exactly go well, after all. Particularly in Ryuji’s case.

“Uggghhh. You really are an amateur, Blondie!” Morgana jumps over Ryuji and stands in front of him defensively. Their ears flick as they cast a look over their shoulder at the blonde. “Just stay still and try not to hurt yourself.”

Sakura, on the other hand, finds her outfit changing as soon as she senses the direct danger. It’s instantaneous. A burst of blue flames and she’s right back in her tailcoat. She finds herself grinning again as Arsene’s voice fills her mind more fully. She can hear the rattle of chains that come with her appearance. “ _Ah, it seems thy powers picked a proper time to return.”_

She glances behind her to see the form of Arsene behind her, wings gently flapping to keep her in the air. Though, when the being glances down at her, she floats down to pat Sakura gently on her curly air. It should probably feel weird to have what is, presumably, some sort of demon touching her. But, instead she feels pretty comforted by the gesture. “ _The odds seem stacked against us, once more, madame. Shall we,_ _again,_ _teach them_ _of_ _their folly?_ ”

“Let’s do it.”

Morgana looks to Sakura with interested eyes, a sharp grin appearing on their face. Especially as they note Arsene. Those big eyes seem to know a lot more about the situation than she does. “Ohh. I bet you and her can fight, right? This is getting interesting~!”

Morgana spreads their arms out, eyes glowing gold as a blue beam bursts off of them. A familiar crack of power arcs through the air. It makes Sakura gasp a little bit. It’s a power that’s familiar, while being starkly different than what she felt when Arsene had been summoned. Could Morgana have one of these beings attached to them, too? She can feel Arsene’s own interest in the situation rising to mirror her own. Ryuji’s freaking out the whole time. She doesn’t really blame him, to be honest. Her question is answered just a moment later.

“Come… _Zorro_!”

Heeding Morgana’s call, a figure steps from the blue beam of light. Only a shadowy figure at first, it reveals itself to be a form that’s distinctly inhuman. Much in the same way Arsene was. The proportions are all strange. It walks forward on thin, spindly legs that rise up into an enormous torso and big, meaty arms. It holds a comparatively thin rapier in it’s thick hand that immediately swishes a large ‘Z’ into the air. The being is dressed rather smartly, like Arsene, though all in black with silvery designs adorning it. The more striking things about it’s look, in her opinion, are the large, silver belt buckle at it’s waist and the hat pulled down over it’s face. It’s eyes seem to come right through the brim of the hat, itself, looking coolly at the enemies in front of it. One of it’s large hands come up to twirl a mustache that shoots out from under the hat. It’s eyes look down to Morgana after surveying the area. The cat nods in the affirmative. “Mhm. We will promptly shut them up!”

Can Zorro and Morgana talk to each other like Arsene can to her?

The knight trembles and shakes as it melts into the familiar, black tar. Out of the muck, two figures burst up into the air. One of the strange jack o’lanterns from earlier drifts around and giggles menacingly at them. The other is a new sort of creature. A purple, grinning imp with a row of sharp teeth and one long, thin claw on one of it’s hands. Their menacing aura seems to pour off them, a murderous intent behind each movement. Morgana’s ears flatten to their head and they bare their fangs. “Damn shadows… They’ve taken up intercept positions. This isn’t about capturing, anymore. They’re out for blood!”

Morgana turns their head to Sakura, stepping in closer to help block Ryuji. They, then, pull a large cutlass out of seemingly nowhere. Much like Sakura had found her own knife weighing down her hand the first time she’d used it. Likely the affect of these beings, somehow. “We’re in this together, Tall Girl. I’ll back you up, so fight like your life depends on it!”

With that, they both charge into battle. Sakura runs right at the jack o’lantern first, as she knows that enemy a little better than the other one. She goes for the same strategy as before. Brandishing her knife, she leaps at it and stabs viciously into it’s head. This time, however, it doesn’t immediately burst into dust. It giggles devilishly and swings the lamp it’s holding around to smack her in the face. It sends her back to the ground with a grunt. As soon as she hits the ground, she rolls backward and onto her feet. It appears these ones are a little tougher than the ones she’d faced before.

Morgana, having seen this happen while fending off swipes from the imp’s claws, calls out for her attention. “Hey! Switch for a second!”

After smacking it’s sword against the imp and sending it flying backward, the cat sprints towards her. When Sakura sees the imp immediately start to give chase, she orders Arsene to cast Eiha toward it. The beam of malevolent intent crackles against the demon’s body, making it hiss loudly and start writhing in the air. Morgana grins. “Thanks! Now, let me show you something really useful!”

Their attention turns to the jack o’lantern as it swoops in for another attack. Morgana is ready for it, immediately casting their paw out. “Zorro! Garu!”

Zorro bursts past Morgana, slicing a green ‘Z’ into the air. It, then, casts it’s large palm forward and sends a cutting gust of wind forward. It smashes into the jack o’lantern hard and draws a particularly loud screech from it. Caught up in the wind, it immediately disintegrates into dust. Morgana turns back to Sakura with a prideful expression. “Finding and exploiting an enemy’s weaknesses is _integral_ to a fight. It’s the most basic of basics, so remember it well!”

“Exploit weaknesses. Got it.” Sakura replies with a grin. She turns her attention back to the imp, who has only just managed to get out of the attack she cast a moment ago. Morgana makes to go after it, but Sakura holds up a gloved hand. “Nah. Allow me.”

She lets it hiss and fly straight towards her, but it’s weakness from the last attack shows. The flight is slower and more wobbly. It leaves itself wide open. As soon as the creature gets in her range, she casts a slash across it’s form with her knife. It shrieks as it turns to dust, flowing past Sakura and into the air behind her. She pants a little, turning herself back to Morgana with a grin.

“ _Wonderfully executed.”_ Arsene faintly whispers in praise.

Morgana laughs a little, putting their paws on their hips. “Not bad for a rookie. Your Persona’s pretty powerful.”

Ryuji has gotten to his feet, jogging over to the two. He seems to have gotten over freaking out. Just resigned to accepting that weird shit is going to keep happening here. “Huh? Persona? You mean those things that burst outta ya like ‘ _phhhwaaaaah_ ’?”

Morgana nods. “Mhm. Were you there when Tall Girl summoned it the first time? I bet she had to tear a mask off, right? That’s how these things work. _Everyone_ has a mask they wear over their own heart. And, when you remove it...”

A flare of blue flames appears all around her again, Sakura’s outfit disappearing once more. Just back to her uniform again. Her eyes squint in annoyance. “Ugh. Seriously? Could this power just make up it’s mind on what it wants me to look like?”

Morgana regards her carefully. “Hm. Looks like you don’t have full control over it, yet… It’s not supposed to just flicker in and out like that. Usually, you’re in the form your heart makes the whole time you’re in here...”

“Hearts? Persona? And, I’m hearin’ all this from a talking cat. This shit makes no sense at all.”

“Maybe if you used a bit of your brain power, Blondie, you’d be able to try and wrap your head around it. Next time, just sit down and try to listen while the adults are talking.” Morgana replies dully, crossing their arms across their chest.

Ryuji growls a bit. “What- rgh. My name’s Ryuji. Not Blondie.”

“Well, stop calling me a cat, then!”

“But, you _are_ a cat!”

“And, you’re an idiot!”

“Ladies, _ladies._ You’re both _very_ pretty. Can we please stop with the bickering, here? You’re giving me a headache.” Sakura sighs, then regarding Morgana. Her hand gestures around to the three of them. “How about we all just use each other’s names, okay? Morgana, Ryuji, Sakura. There. No more cause for the arguing. We can be friends now.”

Morgana and Ryuji glance at each other in begrudging acceptance of this. Then, the cat nods it’s head. “Fine. _Anyway_. We don’t have the time to sit around for a lecture regardless. You wanted to get out of here, right? We’ve got to get moving, in that case. Standing around just makes us vulnerable.”

“I agree. Let’s get moving.”

Morgana gives the two a long stare before sighing and reaching into their belt. They pluck out two vials of a sort of green, sparkly liquid and hand them to Sakura and Ryuji respectively. The raven-haired girl looks curiously at it, swishing the strange liquid around in it’s container. “Here. You guys are looking pretty beat up. Drink these. They’ll help you heal. Keeping your health topped up is another important basic to this place. You don’t want to drop dead from a glancing blow. That’d just be embarrassing.”

The blonde looks at it for a few moments, then shrugs and drinks it down as they start walking. Sakura takes a tentative sip as well. It tastes a bit minty with a definite aftertaste of some sort of medicinal concoction. Not really the _best_ thing she’s ever tasted. But, she can also feel the lingering aches she’s accumulated start to go away. It’s definitely worth a bit of an odd taste. When she curiously looks to Ryuji, he appears to be walking better after drinking it. She smiles a little, glad to see the lingering affects of Kamoshida’s beating won’t be paining him for too long.

The trio is soon making their way through a series of hallways and up more stairs, passing by more cells to keep prisoners in. Sakura has to wonder if the majority of this castle just _is_ a prison, considering how much space it seems to devote totally to cell blocks. As they pass a particular cell, Ryuji slows himself to a stop. “Wait, hold up, guys.”

Sakura stops on her heel and turns to face him. “What? What is it?”

The blonde gestures to one of the cells. A boy in a red sports uniform is laying on the ground inside of it. He’s either unconscious or in so much pain that he can’t do anything more than lay on the floor. She’s not sure which or even what would be the worse option. He looks like he’s been beaten half to death. Ryuji squeezes his eyes together and runs a hand over his face. “I’ve… I’ve seen these uniforms, somewhere, before. I know it. I, ah… rgh, dammit. I’m too flustered. I can’t remember!”

Morgana calls their attention from the front. “Guys, what are you doing back there? Come on! We’re in a hurry, here!”

Ryuji shakes his head swiftly. His foot stomps on the ground. The sight of this person just laying helplessly on the ground is clearly affecting him. Sakura can feel her own disgust at the situation bubble up, as well as Arsene’s faint, quiet seething. “Would you hold on? Who are these guys over here? They’re not looking good at all!”

Morgana hisses quietly. “Do you guys really think you have time to worry about other people, right now? I don’t know if you realized, but there are guards out there _looking for us right now_. Besides, those aren’t-”

“I hear them! Over there!”

The sound of a few knights clanking around makes Morgana’s fur stand on end. They glare at Ryuji. “They’re coming! We can’t stay here!”

“But, what about these guys? W-We can’t just leave them here… Just think of what Kamoshida’ll do to them!” Ryuji argues as the sound of the clanking gets closer and closer. Sakura really feels for his desire to help. But, they’re in no position to do so right now. They don’t have any keys or quick means to open the cell doors. They’re currently being hunted by guards that have nearly found them. Her power is inconsistent and she’s starting to lose steam. She doubts Morgana could pull the full weight if they got completely surrounded. Ryuji can barely fight back against the knights, regardless.

“Sakamoto-san… _Ryuji._ ” Sakura says, walking close to him. She puts her hands on his shoulders and looks down into his eyes. His frustration and worry shows through them like an open book. She’s briefly struck by how unguarded his emotions are before she squeezes his shoulders tightly. “I know how you feel. I really do. But, if we get captured again, there will be _truly_ nothing we can do to help. We have to retreat for now. Pick our battles and live to fight another day.”

“B-But, I… Yeah. Yeah, you’re right, Sakura.” He finally admits, nodding his head. He gives a hard look forward, gritting his teeth. A slow, calming breath goes through him before he keeps moving. “Let’s get outta here.”

As he runs down the drawbridge, Morgana looks at Sakura with an impressed expression. “Gotta say, you seem to know how to persuade people. I thought that big idiot was gonna stand there until he got us killed.”

“It’s not hard, Morgana. You just have to treat someone like a _person_ first. Trying to understand them and where they’re coming from is the most basic of basics.” She says with a quiet sigh, moving past them and along the drawbridge. Morgana lingers there for a little longer before running to catch up.

It takes them a little while to make their way back to somewhere that doesn’t look like _more_ prison. She’s immensely glad when they climb up into an area that actually looks like it could be a normal hallway. She can easily say she’s sick of the whole ‘moldy prison’ motif she’s had to stomach for what feels like hours. This, though it is more castle, is at least _different_ castle. In this particular hallway, there’s two large doors.

Morgana finally grins and gestures outward. “We’re here.”

“Finally… Jeez, we can finally get outta this nasty castle...” Ryuji immediately sighs in relief and strolls up to the one on the right side. When he goes to push against it, it doesn’t budge. Undeterred, he smacks his shoulder against it with a grunt. He tries a few more times, unsuccessfully, before whipping around back to Morgana. “Hey! This ain’t opening! Did you trick us, ya jerk?”

Morgana rolls their eyes. “Don’t jump to conclusions, Blon- Ryuji. It’s just behind this other door, here. We’re not going out the front door, obviously. That’s the first place they’ll check!”

Ryuji strokes his chin a little, then rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “...oh. Yeah, that’s a good point, More… uh… M-More-GAIN-a?”

“H-How did you forget to pronounce my name, _already_?”

“I’m sorry, it’s a complicated name, okay!”

“It’s really not! Morgana! More-gahn-ahhh!”

Sakura rolls her eyes as she moves past them and to the door that Morgana had motioned to. She has a feeling that these two are just going to find something to argue about no matter what she did or how she intervened. As she steps into the room, she lets herself take in her surroundings. It appears to be some manner of storage room. There’s a few shelves and a table, but otherwise it looks like a completely empty room. Normally, it wouldn’t look interesting at all. But, at the top of the shelves, there are a few grates built against the wall. As Morgana and Ryuji finally walk in, the blonde looks around a little. “This kinda looks like a dead end, man. There’s not even a window we can smash.”

“Why am I not surprised that your first thought is to smash a window?” Morgana sighs, then shaking their head. “No, there’s another way out-”

“The grates.” Sakura comments, adjusting her glasses carefully. “I’m guessing these are supposed to let air flow in and out of the castle. So, it only stands to reason that this would lead to the outside. Everyone needs fresh air. Even bastards.”

Morgana grins at her. “I knew you were a natural at this. That’s absolutely right! Now, all we need to do is to _carefully_ _and quietly_ undo the screws so we can- Hey! What the hell are you doing?!”

Ryuji has climbed up the shelf and given the grate a few tugs. It rattles a bit, rusted and clearly not in the best of shape. “Gettin’ us outta here, what’s it look like? All we gotta do is get this mesh off, right? Don’t look too sturdy. It’s practically popping off, already! Ngh. And a one...and, a _two_ \- Whaaa-!”

Sakura’s eyes widen as the force in which the mesh comes off sends the poor boy flying backward. The metallic mesh goes flying across the room and clatters on the table loudly. She jolts into action, positioning herself right under him and catching his body in her arms before he can hit the ground. She doesn’t land it _quite_ as good as she could have, as her heel had slid a bit and made her do an awkward crouch of a sort. But, she’s soon righting herself and standing up fully. Ryuji, currently being bridal carried, looks awestruck. “Dude. You’re hella strong.”

“Heh. Thank you. Got them gains.” Sakura replies with a grin.

“Hell _yeah_ , man!”

Morgana looks between them slowly and with slight mortification. They mutter to themselves as Sakura carefully sets the blonde back down on the ground. “Oh my god... _Oh my god_. It’s like they share one brain cell and she got the lion’s share, somehow...”

“So, we got the grate off, right?” Ryuji asks, casting a thumb up to the newly created hole in the wall. A gentle breeze wafts through it, the purplish light of the outside world showing through. “We should be good to get out of here, yeah? I am _so_ stoked to be outta this bullshit castle, right now.”

Morgana actually laughs a bit and nods their head. “I mean, I’d wait until you were actually out of here to throw a party, but… yes. If you follow that tunnel all the way through, it’ll lead you right to the outside world. Then, all you’ve got to do is walk away from the castle. I’m willing to bet that’ll lead you guys home. Either way, you should get outta here.”

Ryuji shows a bit of concern for their temporary teammate. Sakura will admit that she doesn’t particularly like the idea of leaving them all alone in this place, either. “Uhh, but what about you? We can’t just leave you behind.”

Morgana shakes their head. “Don’t worry about me. I still have some things I need to do around this place. So, this is where we go our separate ways.”

Sakura stoops down to him and gives the cat a little pat on the head. They respond with an unintentional purring sound that they try and pass off as a cough. It’s pretty adorable. “Well… okay. Just don’t get caught, again, alright? I’d feel awfully bad if something happened to you.”

“I’ll be fine, I promise. I’ll be more careful going forward. They won’t be able to catch me again.” The cat replies with a devious little smile. “You guys be careful, too, okay? Especially you, Ryuji.”

“Hey!”

“Thanks for everything, Morgana!”

Arsene seems to have fond feelings for Morgana, as well. As, Sakura can feel her hum pleasantly in the back of her mind. “ _That one knows what they’re doing. I am sure they will be just fine. Zorro seemed like a fine sort to help protect them._ ”

With all said that they need to say, Sakura and Ryuji hop up onto the shelf. She makes sure to scrutinize the tunnel carefully. It doesn’t look nearly as filthy as the hole they’d needed to pass through earlier, so that’s already a plus. Sakura makes to go first, but Ryuji stops her. He clears throat, turning a little red. “I’ll, uh… I’ll go first, man.”

“Hm? Really?”

“Yeah! ‘Cus, uh… well, you’ve been leadin’ the whole time and all. Only fair I take the front, this time!” He says, his words a touch quicker as he averts his eyes. She just gives him a shrug and moves out of the way so he can crawl through first. He gives her a nod and a smile as he squeezes himself inside, clambering down the tunnel. “Nnf. Careful. This thing’s a little tighter on the way in. I can see light, though!”

“Gotcha.” Sakura replies, stooping down to disappear into the vent. Ryuji wasn’t lying. The further she goes, the tighter it gets. Not unbearably so, but just enough to make you a bit uncomfortable. There’s a solace in that she can see just a bit of light past Ryuji’s wriggling butt-

_Oh. Oh, THAT’S why… Dammit._

She smacks a hand to her face as it lights up with an embarrassed blush. The view she has right now pretty much explained why he was acting so strange earlier. Sure, she was wearing tights under her skirt, but they were still pretty form-fitting. Well, at least he hadn’t been too weird about it. She decides to just forget about it and move on. Better that they just not even discuss what occurred. Probably would be less awkward for both of them, that way.

“ _My lady. A moment?_ ”

“Yes, Arsene?” She murmurs quietly, grunting as she shimmies forward down the tunnel.

“ _You are on your way out of this realm. I can sense the exit approaching. I must inform you that, once you are in your proper world, you will not be able to hear me anymore._ ”

Her heart sinks a little. It’s disappointing, for sure. Arsene didn’t speak up too awful much, but feeling her presence and knowing she was watching over Sakura was something… incredibly comforting to her. “I… okay. Well, I’ll… miss you. Thank you for helping me.”

Arsene laughs softly, Sakura feeling something like a gentle, peaceful caress inside her mind. “ _Oh, my dear girl... You unlocked the rebel in your heart all on your own. Your own will gave me the power to aid you. You have been changed for the better now. And, that can never be reversed. Continue to rebel against the society that wishes to grind you beneath it’s heel. Never let them forget you. Stand against injustice wherever you see it. Know that, as long as you do, Sakura Kurusu… Even if you cannot hear me, I will always be inside you. I will always be watching over you. And, I know you will continue to make me proud._ ”

She probably shouldn’t start crying. Even if her Persona was the first one to say she was actually _proud_ of Sakura in quite a while. Even when she’d explained what had happened upon her arrest, her parents hadn’t been proud of her actions in the slightest. More just worried and stressed. Forget the fact that she saved a woman from a nasty fate. Still, she ends up sniffling a little bit. “Thank you, Arsene... Thank you so much.”

“ _Of course, my lady. Now, go. Thy world awaits you_.”


End file.
